One of the most famous 20th Century painters, Wassily Kandinsky is thought to have painted the first modern abstract works. He was born in Moscow in 1866, and as a young man studied law and economics at the University of Moscow. Although he was successful at his profession, he began to study painting when he turned 30.
Kandinsky was greatly inspired by music, and he often incorporated spiritual themes in his art, addressing Christ's birth and death, resurrection, and the apocalypse. His abstract style is known for large masses of colors and very few human forms. Today, favorite Kandinsky prints include "Farbestudie," a bright arrangement of colors and shapes, and "Composition VII," which Kandinsky described as his most complex work. The artist died in France in 1944.
