Art of Spiritual Harmony 00 Kandinsky

Tzi^
University of California
From the papers
Berkeley
of
SHELDON CHENEY
Digitized by the Internet Archive

in
2007 with funding from

IVIicrosoft
Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/artofspiritualhaOOkandrich
THE ART OF SPIRITUAL

HARMONY BY WASSILY
KANDINSKY: translated
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
M. T. H.
SADLER
ILLUSTRATED
BOSTON AND
'
NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
1914
CHISWICK PRESS
CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CQ

l.ANE, LONDON.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY
CONTENTS
PAGE
Translator's Introduction
A.
I.
II.
ABOUT GENERAL AESTHETIC
Introduction
The Movement
of
.....
....
the Triangle
III.
Spiritual Revolution
IV.
The Pyramid
B.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
ix
The Language
of Colour
Form and Colour
......
....
.....
Art and
of
Artists
Conclusion
21
40
ABOUT PAINTING
The Psychological Working

Theory
47
S3
90
104
109
LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

TO FACE
PAGE
Mosaic
in S.
Vitale, Ravenna
Victor and Heinrich Dunwegge

fixion
''
6
'*
:
The Cruci-
the Alte Pinakothek,
(in
Munich)
24
Albrecht Durer: "The Descent from the

Cross"
(in
Munich)
Raphael: "The Canigiani Holy Family"

Paul Cezanne
"
Munich)
56
Bathing Women
" (by per-
Impression No. 4, "Moscow" (191
Improvisation No. 29 (19 12)
Composition No. 2 (19 10)
"Kleine Freuden" (191 3)
Vll
36
(in
mission of Messrs. Bernheim-Jeune, Paris)
Kandinsky
1)
60
86
94
100
106
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
who, even
he
no common thing to find an
ITbe willing
to
capable of expressing his aims and
if
artist
is
try, is
ideals
with any clearness and moderation.
will say that any such capacity
who should
is
a flaw in the perfedt artist,
find his expression in line
the multitude to grope

hension.
This attitude
pour Tart
"
was the
manner and
Some people
and colour, and leave
way unaided towards comprea relic of the days when " Tart
battle-cry when eccentricity of
its
is
latest
irregularity of life
any talent to the would-be
were more important than
artist
when
every one except
oneself was bourgeois.
The
last
few years have in some measure removed
absurdity, by destroying the old convention that
it
this
was
middle-class to be sane, and that between the artist and the
outer-world yawned a gulf which few could cross.

artists are
beginning to realize their social duties.
Modern
They are
the spiritual teachers of the world, and for their teaching

to have weight,
it
must be comprehensible. Any attempt,

ix
therefore, to bring artist and public into sympathy, to en-
able the latter to understand the ideals of the former, should
be thoroughly welcome; and such an attempt
is
book
this
of Kandinsky*s.
The
ment
author
in
is
new
one of the leaders of the
Munich. The group of which he
is
art
move-
member
includes painters, poets, musicians, dramatists, critics,
working
to the
same end
nature and humanity,
the expression of the
or, as
Kandinsky terms
it,
all
soul of
the innerer
Klang,
Perhaps the fault of
this
most likely
characteristic
book of theory
or rather the
to give cause for attack
is
the
tendency to verbosity. Philosophy, especially in the hands

of a writer of German, presents inexhaustible opportunities
for
vague and grandiloquent language.
reason, partly
from incompetence,
Partly for this
have not primarily
attempted to deal with the philosophical basis of Kandinsky 's
art.
of the book
done
Some, probably, will

its
find
in
this
aspeft
chief interest, but better service will be
to the author's ideas
by leaving them
to the reader's
judgement than by even the most expert criticism.

The power of a book to excite argument is often the
best proof of
its
value,
and
my own
been that those new ideas are
at
experience has always
once most challenging
xi
and most stimulating which come direft from their author,

with no intermediate discussion.
The
task undertaken in this Introdu6tion
but perhaps a more necessary one.
is
humbler
England, throughout
her history, has shown scant respedl for sudden spasms of

theory.
Whether
in politics, religion, or art, she
when such
an historical foundation for every belief, and

foundation
not forthcoming she
is
but serious interest
is
may
demands
smile indulgently,
immediately withdrawn.
am keenly
anxious that Kandinsky's art should not suffer this
My personal
ideas will
is
go
for very little, but if
that he
is
it
can be shown that he
what we regard
no adventurer striving
for a
as serious
momentary
notoriety by the strangeness of his beliefs, then there
chance that some people
and
sideration,
love
it as,
in
fate.
belief in his sincerity and the future of his
a reasonable development of
art,
at least will
opinion,
it
give his art fair con-
that, of these people, a
my
is
few
will
come
to
deserves.
Post-Impressionism, that vague and much-abused term,
now almost a household word. That the name of the

movement is better known than the names of its chief
is
leaders
is
rapidity of
a sad
its
misfortune, largely caused by the over-
Within the space

from Manet to the most
introduction into England.
of two short years a mass of
artists
xii
recent of
all
hardly realized Impressionism.
been complete mental chaos.

true
who had
Cubists were thrust on a public,
Post-Impressionism
is
The
The
the
inevitable result has

tradition
of which
modern expression has
been kept alive down the ages of European

tered and, until lately, negledled painters.
by
art
scat-
But not since
the time of the so-called Byzantines, not since the period
of which Giotto and his School were the
final
splendid
blossoming, has the ''Symbolist" ideal in art held general
sway over the " Naturalist." The Primitive
Italians, like
their predecessors the Primitive Greeks, and, in turn, their
predecessors the Egyptians, sought to express the inner

feeling rather than the outer reality.
This
ideal tended to be lost to sight in the naturalistic
which derived its inspiration

from those periods of Greek and Roman art which
revival of the renaissance,

solely
were pre-occupied with the expression of external
reality.
Although the all-embracing genius of Michael-Angelo

kept the " Symbolist " tradition
alive, it is
El Greco that merits the complete
From Greco
springs
Goya and
title
the
work of
of " Symbolist."
the Spanish influence on
Daumier and Manet. When it is remembered that, in the

meantime, Rembrandt and his contemporaries, notably
Brouwer, left their mark on French art in the work of
Delacroix,
Decamps and Courbet,
the
way
xiii
will be seen
open to Cezanne and Gauguin.

phrase " symbolist tradition '' is not used to express
clearly
The
affinity
between the various generations of
As K andinsky
says " the relationships in art are not
any conscious
artists.
necessarily ones of
outward form, but
are
founded on inner
sympathy of meaning." Sometimes, perhaps frequently, a

similarity of outward form will appear. But in tracing
spiritual relationship
only inner meaning must be taken
into account.
There
are,
many people who deny
of course,
Primitive Art had an inner meaning, or,
what
is
called " archaic expression "
rather,
that
that
was diftated by any-
thing but ignorance of representative methods and de-
Such people
fective materials.
bitterest
difficult
are
numbered among the
opponents of Post-Impressionism, and indeed it is

to see how they could be otherwise. " Painting,'*
they say, " which seeks to learn from an age
however
sincere,
rejecSs the
art
is
art was,
incompetent and uneducated, deliberately
knowledge and
no easy matter
when
to
conquer
skill
this
of centuries."
little
hope
be
assumption that Primitive
merely untrained Naturalism, but
quered there seems
It will
until
it
is
con-
for a sympathetic under-
standing of the symbolist ideal.

#
xiv
The
more difficult because of the analogy

drawn by friends of the new movement between the neoprimitive vision and that of a child. That the analogy
task
is all
the
contains a grain of truth does not
it
the
an important element in the
is
But beyond
mis-
this a parallel
is
new movement.
non-existent,
must be non-
existent in any art other than pure artificiality.
thing to ape
ineptitude
in
acquire simplicity of vision.
crimination of vision
The
result
Such
synthesis.
He
Impressionist.
essential.
less
Freshness of vision the child has, and freshness
chievous.
of vision
make
is
one
technique and another to

Simplicity
or rather dis-
the trade-mark of the true Post-
observes
is
It is
and
a logical
then
seleBs
what
and very sophisticated
a synthesis will find expression in
and even harsh technique.
is
simple
But the process can only come
after the naturalist process and not before
it.
The
child
mind is unencumbered by
association and because his power of concentration is unimpaired by a multiplicity of interests. His method of
has a direft vision, because his
drawing
result
is
immature;
its
variations
from the ordinary
from lack of capacity.
Two examples will make my
meaning
clearer.
The child
draws a landscape. His picture contains one or two objedls

only from the number before his eyes.
These are the
which
objefts
there
is
strike
him
important. So
as
no relation between them
good. But
they stand isolated on
mere lumpish shapes. The Post-Impressionist,
his paper,
however,
far,
xv
with a view to expressing by
selefts his objefts
means the whole feeling of the landscape. His choice

on elements which sum up the whole, not those which
their
falls
first attraft
Again,
let
pi6lure.^ It
More
immediate attention.
is
us take the case of the definitely religious
not often that children draw religious scenes.
often battles and pageants attraft them.
the revival of the religious pifture

in the
new movement, since
entirely religious subjefts,
is
But since
so noticeable a facftor
the Byzantines painted almost
and
finally, since a
book of such
drawings by a child of twelve has recently been published,

I
prefer to take
them
as
my
example. Daphne Allen's
gious drawings have the graceful
reli-
charm of childhood, but
they are mere childish echoes of conventional prettiness.
Her
talent,
when mature,
will turn to the
charming rather
than to the vigorous. There could be no greater contrast be-
say Cimabue. Cimabue's
tween such drawing and that of
Madonnas
^
are not pretty
women, but huge, solemn sym-
Religion, in the sense of awe,
the term in the narrower sense to
is
present in
mean
all
true art.
But here
pictures of which the subject
nected with Christian or other worship.
is
I use
con-
xvi
Their heads droop
bols.
In Gauguin's "
versal.
of Christ
have
Agony
"
Garden
in the
uni-
is
the figure
These
artists
their pidtures with a bitter experience
which
haggard with pain and
is
filled
their tenderness
stiffly;
no child can possibly
possess.
grief.
repeat, therefore, that the
analogy between Post-Impressionism and child-art

false
analogy, and that for a trained
paint as a child paints
is
man
or
is
woman
a
to
an impossibility.^
All this does not presume to say that the "symbolist"
school of art
is
am making no
diflêrence in
necessarily nobler than the " naturalist."
comparison, only a distindtion.
aim
the
fully realized, the Primitives can
is
longer be condemned
as
incompetent, nor the moderns
made from
no
as
wrong
Judgement must be passed, not on the
failure
lunatics, for such a
point of view.
When
condemnation
to achieve " naturalism " but
is
on the failure to express the
inner meaning.
The
brief historical survey attempted above ended with
I am well aware
who has contributed a
^
Reiter, in
that this statement
long article
which he argues the

childlike.
at variance
die
with Kandinsky,
Formfrage
"
to
Der Blaue
between Post-Impressionism and
the
But I consider that his art suffers so greatly from his lack of
that beyond a sentimental interest it has little to recommend it.
to none.
ing,
is
parallel
is
work of Henri Rousseau. Certainly

He has had no artistic training and pretends
child vision, as exemplified in
Rousseau's vision
" tjber
train-
xvii
the names of Cezanne and Gauguin, and for the purposes
of this Introdudlion, for the purpose, that
is
to say,
of
tracing the genealogy of the Cubists and of Kandinsky,

these
two names may be taken
to represent the
modern
expression of the "symbolist" tradition.
The
deep.
difference between
is
momentary and
for
more than the
external.
heap of apples, a human
or
subtle but goes very
is
For both, the ultimate and internal significance of
what they painted counted
which
them
face, a
significance
Cezanne saw
in a tree,
group of bathing
women, something more abiding than
men
either photo-
graphy or impressionist painting could present. He painted

the " treeness " of the tree, as a modern critic has admirably expressed
architeftural
studies
it.
But
in everything
mind of the
were based on
rocks and
hills,
essentially
on
true
Frenchman. His landscape
profound sense of the strudlure of
and, being stru6lural, his art depends
reality.
Though he
rightly, to sacrifice accuracy of
the material of
from the huge
Gauguin has
he did he showed the
which
his art
did not scruple, and
form
to the inner need,
was composed was drawn
stores of aftual nature.
greater solemnity and fire than Cezanne.
His pi6lures are tragic or passionate poems.

sacrifices conventional
form
He
also
to inner expression, but his
xviii
art tends ever towards the spiritual, towards that
emphasis which cannot be expressed
True
in words.
did not lead

of expression
his
him
profounder
in natural objefts
nor
abandonment of representative methods

an abandonment of natural terms
to
that
is
to say
human
figures,
and
trees
But that he was much
animals do appear in his piftures.
nearer a complete rejection of representation than was
Cezanne
is
shown by the course followed by
their respec-
tive disciples.
The
generation
immediately subsequent to Cezanne,
Herbin, Vlaminck, Friesz, Marquet,
etc.,
do
little
more
than exaggerate Cezanne's technique, until there appear

the
first
signs of
Herbin.
is
The
are seen very clearly in

flat
planes.
represented by a series of planes set one into
the other, which

first
These
Obje6ls begin to be treated in
round vase
the
Cubism.
at a
distance blend into a curve. This
is
stage.
real
plunge into Cubism was taken by Picasso,
who, nurtured on Cezanne, carried
to
its
perfeftly logical
conclusion the master's structural treatment of nature.
Representation disappears.
objeft, Picasso
angles
till
Starting from a single natural
and the Cubists produce lines and proje6l
their canvases are covered with intricate and
often very beautiful series of balanced lines and curves.
They
persist,
however,
xlx
them picture titles which

from which their minds first took
in giving
recall the natural objeft

flight.
With Gauguin
the case
is
different.
which followed him

tinguish them from his aftual pupils
his disciples
and the
rest
at
put
it
generation of
thus to dis-
Pont Aven, Serusier
carried the tendency further.
mention Derain,
to
The
One
hesitates
for his beginnings, full of vitality
and
promise, have given place to a dreary compromise with
Cubism, without
humour.
visible future,
But there
is
and above
all
without
no better example of the develop-
ment of synthetic symbolism than his first book of woodcuts.^ Here is work which keeps the merest semblance
of conventional form, which gives its efFedt by startling
masses of black and white, by sudden curves, but more
frequently by sudden angles.^
In the process of the gradual abandonment of natural

^
" L'Enchanteur pourrissant," par Guillaume Apollinaire, avec illustraAndr6 Derain. Paris, Kahnweiler, 1910.
tions gravies sur bois par
The
renaissance of the angle in art
is
an interesting feature of the
new
movement. Not since Egyptian times has it been used with such noble
efFeft. There is a painting of Gauguin's at Hagen, of a row of Tahitian
women seated on a bench, that consists entirely of a telling design in
Egyptian angles. Cubism
is
the result of this discovery of the angle, blended
with the influence of Cezanne.
XX
form, the " angle " school

school,
best
which
known
become
Matisse
is
also descends
representative
is
paralleled
the
'*
curve
"
The
wholly from Gauguin.
Maurice Denis. But he has
a slave to sentimentality,
is
by the
and has been
most prominent French
followed Gauguin with curves.
In
left
artist
Germany
behind.
who
has
group of
young men, who form the Neue Kiinstlervereinigung in

Munich, work almost entirely in sweeping curves, and have
reduced natural objects purely to flowing, decorative
But while they have followed Gauguin's lead
in
units.
abandon-
ing representation both of these two groups of advance

are lacking in spiritual meaning.
Their aim becomes more
and more decorative, with an undercurrent of suggestion

of simplified form.
Anyone who
has studied
Gauguin
will be aware of the intense spiritual value of his work.
The man
by
is
preacher
and a psychologist, universal
unorthodoxy, fundamental because he goes
his very
deeper than civilization. In his disciples this great element

is
wanting.
Kandinsky has supplied the need.
only on the track of an art
more purely
He
not
is
spiritual than
was
conceived even by Gauguin, but he has achieved the
final
abandonment of
all
way
he combines
himself the spiritual and technical ten-
in
representative intention.
In this
dencies of one great branch of Post-Impressionism.
The
art
is
this
it is
question most generally asked about Kandinsky's
"
What is he
book
it
trying to do
"
be hoped that
It is to
do something towards answering the ques-
will
But
tion.
xxi
will not do everything.
This
partly because
impossible to put into words the whole of Kandinsky*s
because in his anxiety to state his case, to
ideal, partly
court criticism, the author has been tempted to formulate
more than
is
wise.
on the spectator
it
is
His
analysis of colours and their effects
not the real basis of his
art,
because, if
were, one could, with the help of a scientific manual,
describe one's emotions before his pi6lures with perfeft
accuracy.
And
Kandinsky
broken
down
is
this
is
impossible.
painting music.
That
is
to say,
he has
the barrier between music and painting, and
has isolated the pure emotion, which, for want of a better
Anyone who
name, we
call
listened to
good music with any enjoyment will admit
the artistic emotion.
an unmistakable but quite indefinable
thrill.
He will
has
to
not
be able, with sincerity, to say that such a passage gave
him such visual impressions, or such a harmony roused in

him such emotions. The effeft of music is too subtle for
words.
And
the same with this painting of Kandinsky's.
Speaking for myself, to stand in front of some of his drawings or piftures gives a keener and
more
spiritual pleasure
xxii
than any other kind of painting.
But
what gives the
pleasure.
and colours have the same
efFeft as
in the least
could not express
Presumably the
lines
harmony and rhythm

musical. That psychology
music have on the truly
in
perhaps
present the very
majority of people have
colour-music
dormant.
has never been
In the same wây many people
unmusical
comes
Many
no one can deny.
in
people
large
at
their
sense
exercised.
It
either
are
wholly, by nature, or partly, for lack of experience.
Even
when Kandinsky's idea is universally understood there may

be many who are not moved by his melody. For my
part,
the
something within
first
time
me
met with
looking for representation
answered to Kandinsky's
There was no question of
it.
;
art
harmony had been
set up,
and that was enough.
Of course
colour-music
attempts have been
by
flashes
in colour.
made
is
no new
to play
idea.
That
is
compositions in colour,
and harmonies.^ Also music has been interpreted
But
do not
know
of any previous attempt to
paint, without any reference to music, compositions

shall
have on the spe6lator an
representative association.
efl?e(5t
which
wholly divorced from
Kandinsky
paint in colour-counterpoint. But that

^
to say
refers to attempts to
is
a different matter,
Cf. "Colour Music," by A. Wallace Rimington. Hutchinson. 6f.net.
in that
xxiii
the borrowing from one art by another of
it is
purely technical methods, without a previous impulse from
sympathy.
spiritual
One
is
faced then with the conflifting claims of Picasso
and Kandinsky to the position of true leader of non-representative art.
Picasso's admirers hail
him, just
as this
The
Introduction hails Kandinsky, as a visual musician.
methods and
title
ideas of each rival are so different that the
cannot be accorded to both.
states his
opinion of
Cubism and
In his book, Kandinsky

its fatal
The
history goes to support his contention.
Cubism
in
Cezanne, in a structural
existence to matter,
makes
its
weakness, and
art that
owes
Once abandon
reality
me
that
Picasso
shares
Futurist error
endeavours to harmonize one item of reality

ber, a button, a
few capital
aura of angular projections.

impressions,
which
of modern music
is
letters
with
strata
and
and the geo-
metrical vision becomes abstraCt mathematics.

to
very
its
claim to pure emotionalism
seem untenable. Emotions are not composed of

conflicting pressures.
origin of
It
seems
when he
a num-
a surrounding
There must be
a conflict of
differ essentially in quality.
One
trend
towards realism of sound. Children cry,
dogs bark, plates are broken. Picasso approaches the same

goal from the opposite direction.
It is as
though he were
xxiv
trying to
is,
to
work from
my mind,
The
realism to music.
waste of time
equally complete in both cases.
The power
of music to give expression without the help of representation
its
is
noblest possession.
No
such a precious power. Kandinsky
power, and prove what
is
Picasso
to
one
angles.
makes
little
series
of line efFefts
So his aim
dinsky 's even
is
striving to give
it
that
the logical analogy be-
at least
tween colour and sound, between
painting has ever had
line
and rhythm of
beat.
use of colour, and confines himself only
is
those
smaller and
more limited than KanBut because
if it is as reasonable.
wholly abandoned realism but uses
caused by conflifting
it
has not
for the painting of feel-
ing a struftural vision dependent for
ciation of reality, because in so doing

best of two worlds, there seems little
value on the asso-
its
it
tries to
hope
for
it
make
the
of redemp-
tion in either.
As has been
said above, Picasso
and Kandinsky make an
interesting parallel, in that they have developed the art
respeftively of
tion.
On
Cezanne and Gauguin,
in a similar direc-
the decision of Picasso's failure or success rests
the distindlion between Cezanne and Gauguin, the
realist
and the symbolist, the painter of externals and the painter

of religious feeling.
to Cezanne's
Unless a spiritual value
work, unless he
is
is
accorded
believed to be a religious
xxv
painter (and religious painters need not paint Madonnas),

unless in fa6l he
Gauguin,
paralleled closely with
is
his
follower Picasso cannot claim to stand, with Kandinsky, as

a
prophet of an
If
to
art
of spiritual harmony.
Kandinsky ever
attains his ideal
he
admit that he has not yet reached his goal
which
as a
he ever
language of sound and beat
all
hands be hailed
champion of the freedom of
whom
form or representa-
as a great
art.
innovator,
Until such time,
it
work has spoken, to bear

testimony. Otherwise he may be condemned as one
the duty of those to
who
if
first
shall stand alone as the
he will on
their
the
language of colour and line
stands alone, without recourse to natural

tion,
is
common
succeeds in finding a
is
for
his
who paints
by those who have
has invented a shorthand of his own, and
which cannot be understood

not the key of the cipher. In the meantime
pictures
also
it is
im-
portant that his position should be recognized as a legiti-
mate, almost inevitable

tendencies.
Such
is
outcome of Post-Impressionist
the recognition this Introduftion strives
to secure.
MICHAEL
T. H.
SADLER.
REFERENCE
Those
artists
and work of Kandinsky and
interested in the ideas
would do well
his
fellow
lo mk.
This
to consult
Der Blaue Reiter,
vol.
i.
Piper Verlag, Miinchen,
sumptuous volume contains articles by Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Arnold

Schonberg,
ductions
etc.,
some
glass-painters,
Greco
to
together with
in colour
and
some musical texts and numerous reprothe work of the primitive mosaicists,
as well as of more modern artists from
of
sculptors,
Kandinsky, Marc, and their
friends.
tions gives an admirable idea of the continuity
new
painting, sculpture,
illustrations,
many
choice of illustra-
and music.
Klange. By Wassily Kandinsky.

beautifully produced
The
and steady growth of the
Piper Verlag, Mtlnchen,
30 mk.
A most
book of prose-poems, with a large number of
in colour.
This
is
Kandinsky's most recent work.
Also the back and current numbers of Der Sturm^ a weekly paper published in Berlin
in the defence
of the
new
art.
Illustrations
Pechstein, le Fauconnier, Delaunay, Kandinsky, etc.
by Marc,
Also poems and
Price per weekly number, 25 pfg. Der Sturm has in prealbum of reproductions of pictures and drawings by Kandinsky.
critical articles.
paration an
For Cubism
cf.
Gleizes et Metzinger, " du Cubisme," and Guillaume
ApoUinaire, " Les Peintres Cubistcs." Colledlion Les Arts. Paris, Figui^re,
per vol. 3
fr.
50
c.
xxvii
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY

OF ELISABETH TICHEJEFF
I.
INTRODUCTION
EVERY
work of
many
cases, the
art
is
the child of
its
age, and, in
mother of our emotions.
It
that each period of culture produces an art of
which can never be
repeated.
follows
its
own
Efforts to revive the art-
principles of the past will at best produce an art that

still-born.
It
is
impossible for us to live and
the ancient Greeks.

follow the
similarity
time.
In the same
Greek methods
of form, the
Such imitation
way
those
who
mere aping.
5
did
strive to
in sculpture achieve
work remaining
is
feel, as
is
only a
soulless for all
Externally
the
monkey completely resembles

sit
human
being; he will
holding a book in front of his nose, and turn over the
pages with a thoughtful aspeft, but his adtions have for
him no
meaning.
real
There
is,
however,
larity
which
there
is
is
in art another
founded on
a similarity of inner
kind of external simi-
tendency in the whole moral
and spiritual atmosphere,
a similarity
closely pursued
lost
but later
When
fundamental truth.
to
of
sight,
ideals,
at
first
similarity in
the inner feeling of any one period to that of another,

the logical result will be a revival of the external forms
which served to express those inner feelings in an earlier

age. An example of this to-day is our sympathy, our
spiritual relationship
these artists sought to express in their

truths,
renouncing
Like ourselves,
with the Primitives.
in
consequence
work only
all
internal
consideration
of
external form.
This all-important spark of inner
to-day
is
at
present
now
only just
after years of materialism, are infected
with the
only a spark.
awakening
life
Our minds, which
are even
despair of unbelief, of lack of purpose and ideal.
nightmare of materialism, which has turned the

universe into an evil, useless game,
the awakening soul
still
in
its
is
grip.
not yet past
Only
life
;
it
The
of the
holds
a feeble light
.-
* Sf
*^....,.^._.
^::^^^
.:._:
_.
'"'^''^*"""'*^''-
,;
j^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^HKî
.j^l^fea;.a.i^..
INTRODUCTION
I.
glimmers like
feeble light
sees
it,
This
a tiny star in a vast gulf of darkness.
is
but a presentiment, and the soul,
trembles in doubt whether the light
and the gulf of darkness
reality.
is
when
it
not a dream,
This doubt, and the
still
harsh tyranny of the materialistic philosophy, divide our

soul sharply
cracked
from that of the Primitives.
when we seek to play upon
long buried in the earth, which
when
tive
is
soul rings
does a costly vase,
as
it,
Our
found to have a flaw
dug up once more. For this reason, the Primiphase, through which we are now passing, with its
it is
temporary similarity of form, can only be of short duration.
These two possible resemblances between the

of to-day and those of the past will be
as
at
diametrically opposed to one another.
purely external, has no future.

ternal, contains the seed
check
until
it
emerging, purged
emotions such
this
time of
He
will
unnamed.
eflTort,
trials
first,
being
second, being in-
as
After
itself.
evil,
soul
the soul
and sufferings.
as fear, joy, grief, etc.,
effort, will
The
which held the
was shaken off
by
once recognized
of the future within
the period of materialist

in
The
forms
art
is
Shapeless
which belonged
no longer greatly
to
attra6l the artist.
endeavour to awake subtler emotions,
as
yet
Living himself a complicated and compara-
tively subtle life, his
work
will give to those observers
capable of feeling them lofty emotions beyond the reach
of words.
The
observer of to-day, however,
He
feeling such emotions.
imitation of nature
(for
example
sentment of nature
(" impressionist "
serve
according to a certain
convention
some inner
feeling ex-
or
pressed in terms of natural form
they are really
^).
this
strongly
to the third,
(as
we
say
a pidture
when
purpose and feed the
spirit.
applies
more
applies to the
thrill in
case,
first
it
where the speftator does

himself.
stimmung
"
or worthless;
of a picture can
purify that of the speftator.
feel
Such harmony or even
contrast of emotion cannot be superficial
indeed the "
All those varieties of pifture,
art, fulfil their
Though
corresponding
work of art a mere

some definite purpose
the ordinary sense) or a pre-
in
painting),
with " stimmung"
seldom capable of
seeks in a
which can
a portrait
is
Such works of
preserve the soul from coarseness
deepen and
art
they " key
it
at least
up," so
to speak, to a certain height, as a tuning-key the strings
of a musical instrument.
*
" Stimmung "
is
But purification, and extension
almost untranslateable.
It
is
almost " sentiment " in
Many of Corot's twilight landscapes

"
are full of a beautiful
stimmung." Kandinsky uses the word later on
to mean the " essential spirit " of nature.
M. T. H. S.
the best sense, and almost " feeling."
INTRODUCTION
L
and
in duration
sided,
and the
size
of this sympathy of soul, remain oneof the influence of art are not
possibilities
exerted to their utmost.
Imagine
may
building
room
many
rooms.
The
Every wall of every
be large or small.
covered with piftures of various sizes; perhaps
is
they number
bits
building divided into
of nature
many
thousands.
animals
They
represent in colour
in sunlight or
shadow, drinking,
standing in water, lying on the grass; near to, a Crucifixion
by
flowers;
painter
human
they are naked;
who
of
not believe
many naked women,
Christ;
often
seen foreshortened
silver dishes; portrait
So and So; sunset; lady in red
Lady X;
in
figures sitting, standing, walking;
from behind; apples and

cillor
does
of Coun-
flying duck; portrait
flying geese; lady in white; calves in
shadow
flecked with brilliant yellow sunlight; portrait of Prince
lady in green.
name of artist
in their
All this
name of
is
carefully printed in a
pi6lure.
Y;
book
People with these books
hands go from wall to wall, turning over pages,
Then they go away, neither richer

nor poorer than when they came, and are absorbed at
reading the names.
TO
once in their business, which has nothing to do with
Why
come ? In each
did they
pifture
imprisoned, a whole lifetime of
is
art.
whole lifetime
doubts, hopes, and
fears,
joys.
Whither
is
this lifetime tending
of the competent
artist
ness of men's hearts
"
Schumann.
An
"
such
To
is
What
the message
send light into the dark-
the duty of the artist," said
man who
artist is a
is
can draw and paint
everything," said Tolstoi.
Of these two
definitions of the artist's aftivity
choose the second,

described.
On
if
we think of
one canvas
is
we must
the exhibition just
huddle of objefts painted
with varying degrees of skill, virtuosity and vigour, harshly

or smoothly.
With
To harmonize
the whole
cold eyes and indifferent
gard the work.
mind
is
the task of
art.
the spectators re-
Connoisseurs admire the "
skill " (as
one
admires a tight-rope walker), enjoy the "quality of paint-
ing"
(as
one enjoys a pasty).
But hungry souls go hungry
away.
The
vulgar herd
stroll
through the rooms and pro-
nounce the pictures " nice " or "splendid."

could speak have said nothing, those
heard nothing.
art's
sake."
This condition of
who
Those who
could hear have
art is called " art for
This negleCt of inner meanings, which
is
the
I.
INTRODUCTION
ii
of colours, this vain squandering of
life
artistic
power
is
called " art for art's sake.*'
The
artist seeks for
material reward for his dexterity,
vision and experience.
His purpose becomes
the satisfaction of vanity and greed.
In place of the steady
his
power of
co-operation of artists
is
a scramble for
good
things.
There
are complaints of excessive competition, of over-produ6tion.
Hatred, partisanship, cliques, jealousy, intrigues are the

natural consequences of this aimless, materialist art.^
The
onlooker turns away from the
and
ideals
who
cannot see his
life
out aims.
artist
who
has higher
purpose in an
art
with-
Sympathy is the education of the speftator from the

point of view of the artist. It has been said above that
ait is the child of its age. Such an art can only create an
artistic feeling which is already clearly felt. This art,
which has no power for the future, which is only a child
of the age and cannot become a mother of the future, is
^
The few
ominous
dotrine of art
vjrhich
is
is
do not destroy the truth of this sad and

and even these exceptions are chiefly believers in the
for art's sake. They serve, therefore, a higher ideal, but one
solitary exceptions
pi6l:ure,
ultimately a useless waste of their strength.
one element of a
spiritual atmosphere.
But beyond
External beauty
this positive fadl
what is beautiful is good) it has the weakness of a talent not used

the full. (The word talent is employed in the biblical sense.)
(that
to
12
She
a barren art.
moment
is
transitory and to
all
intent dies the
the atmosphere alters which nourished her.
The other art, that which is
capable of educating further,
springs equally from contemporary feeling, but
same time not only echo and mirror of
at
is
the
it,
but also has a
art belongs
and of which
deep and powerful prophetic strength.
The
she
is
spiritual life, to
which
one of the mightiest elements,
is
a complicated but
definite
and easily definable movement forwards and up-
wards.
This movement
It
may
is
the
movement of
take different forms, but
it
experience.
holds at bottom to the
same inner thought and purpose.

Veiled in obscurity are the causes of this need to
move
ever upwards and forwards, by sweat of the brow, through

sufferings and fears.
plished, and
many
When
one stage has been accom-
evil stones cleared
unseen and wicked hand scatters
from the road, some
new
obstacles in
way, so that the path often seems blocked and

obliterated.
But there never
some human being,

that he has in
him
fails to
come
the
totally
to the rescue
like ourselves in everything except
a secret
power of
vision.
I.
He
sees
fain lay aside, for
But he cannot do
bear.
13
and points the way. The power to do
would sometimes
after
INTRODUCTION
him over
so.
it
is
this
he
a bitter cross to
Scorned and hated, he drags
the stones the heavy chariot of a divided
humanity, ever forwards and upwards.
many years after his body

men try by every means to
Often,
earth,
has vanished from the
body
recreate this
marble, iron, bronze, or stone, on an enormous scale.

if there
were any
As
intrinsic value in the bodily existence of
such divine martyrs and servants of humanity,

spised the flesh and lived only for the spirit
such setting up of marble
is
who
But
a proof that a great
men have reached the point where once

would now honour, stood alone.
of
in
de-
at least
number
the being they
II.
THE
MOVEMENT
OF THE
TRIANGLE
THE
of the spirit
life
diagram
as
large
may be
fairly represented in
acute-angled triangle divided
horizontally into unequal parts with the narrowest seg-
ment uppermost. The lower the segment the greater

is
in breadth, depth,
The whole
and
triangle
forwards and upwards.
second segment
is
is
it
area.
moving
Where
to-morrow
slowly, almost invisibly
the apex was to-day the
what to-day can be under-
stood only by the apex and to the rest of the triangle
is
an incomprehensible gibberish, forms to-morrow the true
thought and feeling of the second segment.
At the apex of the top segment
stands often one
man,
THE MOVEMENT OF THE TRIANGLE
II.
His joyful vision cloaks a vast sorrow.
and only one.
Even
who
those
are nearest to
understand him.
madman. So
insulted.^
15
him
sympathy do not
in
Angrily they abuse him
as charlatan or
in his lifetime stood Beethoven, solitary
How many
years will
it
and
be before a greater
segment of the triangle reaches the spot where he once

stood alone ? Despite memorials and statues, are they
really
many who have
risen to his level
In every segment of the triangle are
of them
who
^
?
Each one
artists.
can see beyond the limits of his segment
is
prophet to those about him, and helps the advance of
the obstinate whole.
who
retard the
movement of
are fully understood
The
their genius.
who
are blind, or those
the triangle for baser reasons,
by their fellows and acclaimed
greater the segment (which
saying the lower
as
But those
it
lies in
for
the same
is
the triangle) so the greater
number who understand the words of the

Every segment hungers consciously or, much more
artist.
unconsciously for their corresponding spiritual food.
This
the
Weber, composer of " Der
phony:
"The
Freischtitz," said of Beethoven's
often,
VII Sym-
extravagances of genius have reached the limit; Beethoven
now ripe for an asylum." Of the opening phrase, on a reiterated "e,"

the Abb6 Stadler said to his neighbour, when first he heard it " Always
is
that miserable
^
'
he seems to be deaf to
Are not many monuments
in
it
himself, the idiot
"
!
themselves answers to that question
food
offered by the artists, and for this food the
is
segment
immediately below will to-morrow be stretching out eager

hands.
This simile of the triangle cannot be

every aspeft of the spiritual
said to express
For instance, there
life.
is
never an absolute shadow-side to the pifture, never a
Even
piece of unrelieved gloom.
too often
happens
it
that one level of spiritual food suffices for the nourish-
ment of those who

for them this food
is
poison
large quantities
it
hurls
ever lower and lower.
compares the
them suddenly
de-
it
spiritual life
against sinking,
under.
In this
sense)
becomes
strait a
a curse
but also of those
artist uses his
to
will
swimming;
who
helps
for
the
does not fight con-
man's talent (again in the biblical
and
not only the talent of the
who
poisoned food.
eat this
form he presents what
them
man
mentally and morally go
the weaker elements to him, mixes
men and
into the depths
strength to flatter his lower needs
ostensibly artistic
in
Sienkiewicz, in one of his novels,
does not strive tirelessly,
tinually
artist,
in small quantities
their souls gradually into a lower segment;
presses
who
But
are already in a higher segment.
is
in an
impure, draws
them with
to betray themselves,
The
evil,
betrays
while they con-
vince themselves and others that they are spiritually thirsty.
II.
and that from
Such
it,
this
art does
pure spring they
may quench
17
their thirst.
not help the forward movement, but hinders
dragging back those
who
are striving to press
onward,
and spreading pestilence abroad.
Such periods, during which
art has
during which the true spiritual food
is
no noble champion,
wanting, are periods
of retrogression in the spiritual world.

fall
from the higher
to the
Ceaselessly souls
lower segments of the triangle,
down
and dumb
and the whole seems motionless, or even to move
Men
and backwards.
attribute to these blind
periods a special value, for they judge

results,
them by outward
They
thinking only of material well-being.
hail
ôme technical advance, which can help nothing but the

body,
as a great
achievement.
Real
spiritual gains are at
best undervalued, at worst entirely ignored.
The
solitary
visionaries
are
abnormal and eccentric. Those

lethargy and
who
feel
more
and
darkly.
regarded
as
who
wrapped
in
are not
vague longings for
knowledge and progress, cry

to comfort them.
despised or
The
spiritual life
in harsh chorus,
night of the spirit
and
without any
falls
more and
Deeper becomes the misery of these blind
terrified guides,
and their followers, tormented and un-
nerved by fear and doubt, prefer to this gradual darkening

the final sudden leap into the blackness.
At such
time
for material ends.

ties
art ministers to
lower needs, and
She seeks her sustenance
in
because she knows of nothing nobler.
reproduction of which
is
is
used
hard reali-
Objefts, the
considered her sole aim, remain
monotonously the same. The question " what ? " disappears
from
art;
only the question
"how?"
By what
reproduced
The
remains.
method are these material objed:s to be

word becomes a creed. Art has lost her soul.
In the search for method the artist goes still
Art becomes so specialized
to artists, and they
to their
work.
as to
complain
For
be comprehensible only
bitterly of public indifference
to be notorious for
originality and consequently lauded
by
profitable business for him), there arise a

skilful painters, so easy does the
Competition
more and more
way to
also a
very
crowd of gifted
artists,
of whom
technical manner, and
millions of works of art without enthusiasm,
with cold hearts and souls
their
new
group of
conquest of art appear.
In each artistic circle are thousands of such

the majority seek only for some
is
no
some small
a small
patrons and connoisseurs (which incidentally
who produce
further.
since the artist in such times has
need to say much, but only
and
arises.
asleep.
The
material.
wild battle for success becomes
Small groups
who have
fought
the top of the chaotic world of art and picSure-
II.
making entrench themselves

won.
The
in the territory they
19
have
public, left far behind, looks on bewildered,
and turns away.
loses interest
But despite
all this
confusion, this chaos, this wild hunt
for notoriety, the spiritual triangle, slowly but surely,
with
moves onwards and upwards.

The invisible Moses descends from the mountain and
sees the dance round the golden calf. But he brings with
him fresh stores of wisdom to man.
rFirst by the artist is heard his voice, the voice that
irresistible strength,
is
inaudible to the crowd.
follows the
lies a
Almost unknowingly the
Already in that very question
call.
hidden seed of renaissance.
For when
remains without any fruitful answer, there

sibility that
the same
sonality to-day)
not only what
may
'*
something
"
is
this
artist
"how?"
" how "
?
always a pos-
(which we
call per-
be able to see in the objects about
it
purely material but also something less

solid; something less " bodily " than was seen in the period
of realism,
thing "
is
when
the universal aim was to reproduce any-
as it really is "
and without
fantastic imagination.^
made here of the terms " material " and " non-material,"
and of the intermediate phrases " more " or " less material." Is everything
^
Frequent use
is
20
If the emotional
**
how ?
art is
"
power of the
artist
can overwhelm the
and can give free scope to his
on the
crest of the road
finer feelings,
then
by which she will not fail

lost, the " what" which
later on to find the " what " she has
show the way to the spiritual food of the newlyawakened spiritual life. This "what?" will no longer be
the material, objeflive " what " of the former period, but
the internal truth of art, the soul without which the body
will
{i.e.
the
how ")
*'
can never be healthy, whether in an
individual or in a whole people.
This ^^what''
which
is
the internal truth
only art can express by those
which
only art
can divine^
means of expression which
xire hers alone.

material? or
matter and
is
everything spiritual?
spirit
Thought which, although

tive science,
is
Can
we make between
a produ6t of the spirit,
can be defined with posi-
matter, but of fine and not coarse substance.
not be touched with the hand, spiritual?
^cope of this
the distinctions
be nothing but relative modifications of one or the other?
little
should not be too
book;
all
definite.
The
that matters here
is
discussion
Is
whatever can-
lies
beyond the
that the boundaries
drawn
III.
THE
SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION
spiritual triangle
wards.
moves slowly onwards and up-
To-day one of the
largest of the
ments has reached the point of using the

the materialist creed.
The
first
battle-cry of
dwellers in this segment group
themselves round various banners in religion.
themselves Jews, Catholics, Protestants,

really atheists,
and
this a
narrowest openly avow.
lower seg-
They
call
But they are
etc.
few either of the boldest or the

" Heaven
is
empty," "
God
is
dead."
In politics these people are democrats and repub-
licans.
The
felt for
these political creeds they
fear,
horror and hatred which yesterday they
chism, of which they
now
know nothing
direft against anar-
but
its
much
dreaded
name,
In economics these people are Socialists.
21
They make
22
sharp the sword of justice with which to slay the hydra
of capitalism and to
hew
off the
head of
evil.
Because the inhabitants of this great segment of the

triangle have never solved any
are dragged as
it
their fellow-men
know
were
problem independently, but
in a cart
who have
by those the noblest of
sacrificed
nothing of the vital impulse of
themselves, they
life
gard always vaguely from a great distance.
which they
They
re-
rate this
impulse lightly, putting their trust in purposeless theory
and in the working of some logical method.
The men
of the segment next below are dragged slowly
higher, blindly, by those just described.
But they cling
to
their old position, full of dread of the
unknown and
of
betrayal.
The
higher segments are not only blind atheists but can
justify their godlessness
those of Virchow
dissefted
many
so
with strange words; for example,
unworthy of a learned man
"I have
corpses, but never yet discovered a soul in
any one of them."

In politics they are generally republican, with a
know-
ledge of different Parliamentary procedures; they read the

political leading articles in the newspapers.
In economics
they are socialists of various grades, and can support their

" principles " with numerous quotations, passing from
III.
Schweitzer's
"Emma" via
Lasalle's
to Marx's " Capital," and
still
"Iron
23
Law of Wages,"
further.
In these loftier segments other categories of ideas, absent

in these just described, begin gradually to appear
and
art, to
which
last
In science these
science
belong also literature and music.
men
those things that can be
are positivists, only recognizing
weighed and measured. Anything
beyond that they consider

that
as rather discreditable
nonsense,
same nonsense about which they held yesterday the
theories that to-day are proven.
In art they are naturalists,
which means
that they recog-
nize and value the personality, individuality and tempera-
up to a certain definite point. This

point has been fixed by others, and in it they believe un-
ment of the
artist
flinchingly.
But despite their patent and well-ordered security,

despite their infallible
principles, there lurks
higher segments a hidden

sense of insecurity.
They know
And
fear, a
this is
due to their upbringing.
that the sages, statesmen and artists
And
these
nervous trembling, a
day they revere, were yesterday spurned

charlatans.
in
whom
as swindlers
to-
and
the higher the segment in the triangle.
24
'
the better defined
this fear, this
is
modern
sense of in-
Here and there are people with eyes which can

minds which can correlate. They say to themselves
security.
see,
" If the science of the day before yesterday
is
rejefted
by
the people of yesterday, and that of yesterday by us of

to-day,
not possible that what
it
is
men
be rejefted by the
will
bravest of
them answer "
we
of to-morrow
the road
" Will science,
"
And
the
And
explained.
if it continues
on
has followed for so long, ever attain to the
it
solution of these problems
men
can distinguish those problems
that the science of to-day has not yet

:
now
science
It is possible.'*
Then people appear who

they ask themselves
call
be able to rely on
its
And
if
does so attain, will
it
In these segments
solution.?"
men of learning who can remember

when fa6ls now recognized by the Academies
are also professional
the time
as
firmly
established,
Academies.
There
were
scorned
as
those
same
are also philosophers of aesthetic
write profound books about an art
condemned
by
nonsense.
remove the
barriers
stepped and
set
who
which was yesterday
In writing these books they
over which art has most recently
up new ones which
ever in the places they have chosen.
are to remain
They do
for
not notice
that they are busy erefling barriers, not in front of art,
III.
but behind
they
And
it.
if
they do notice
merely write fresh
barriers a little further on.
unaltered until
on the morrow
books and hastily
set
their
This performance will go on
realized that the
it is
this,
25
most extreme prin-
ciple of aesthetic can never be of value to the future, but
No
only to the past.
down
such theory of principle can be
which lie beyond, in the

realm of the immaterial. That which has no material
laid
for those
things
existence cannot be subjedted to a material classification.
That which belongs
to the spirit of the future can only
be realized in feeling, and to this feeling the talent of the

artist is
Theory
the only road.
is
the
lamp which sheds
light on the petrified ideas of yesterday and of the

distant past.^
And
as
we
rise
more
higher in the triangle
find that the uneasiness increases, as a city built
we
on the
most corre6t architeftural plan may be shaken suddenly
by the uncontrollable force
of nature.
Humanity
is
living in such a spiritual city, subjedl to these sudden
which neither architecfts nor mathematicians have made allowance. In one place lies a great
disturbances
for
wall crumbled to pieces like a card house, in another are
the ruins of a huge tower which once stretched to heaven,

built
on many presumably immortal

^
Cf. chap.
vii.
spiritual
pillars.
26
The abandoned churchyard quakes and

open and from them
forgotten graves
rise forgotten ghosts.
Spots appear
on the sun and the sun grows dark, and what theory can
fight
deafened by
by
And in this city live also men

wisdom who hear no crash, and blinded
with darkness
false
false
wisdom,
that they say " our sun will shine
so
more brightly than
last
spots
will
But sometime even these men will hear
disappear."
and
ever and soon the
see.
But when we get

bewilderment.
still
There work
attacks those pillars
who
again and again,

finally cast
is
men
is
no longer
this
going on which boldly
which men have
find other professional
who
higher there
set up.
of learning
who
There we
test
matter
tremble before no problem, and
doubt on that very matter which was
yesterday the foundation of everything, so that the whole

universe
shaken.
is
finds bold discoverers
phecy and,
who
scientific
theory
overstep the boundaries of pro-
forgetful of themselves, join the other soldiers
in the conquest of
attack on
Every day another
some new summit and
some stubborn
fortress that
man
fortress.
cannot overcome."
But
in the hopeless
" there
is
no
III.
On
27
the one hsindy fa^s are being established which the
science of yesterday
which
are for the
dubbed swindles.
Even newspapers,
most part the most obsequious servants
of worldly success and of the mob, and which trim their

every wind, find themselves compelled to modify
their ironical judgements on the " marvels " of science and
sails to
even to abandon them altogether.
among them
Various learned men,
ultra-materialists, dedicate their strength to
the scientific research of doubtful problems,
no longer be
On
lied
which can
about or passed over in silence.^
the other hand, the
number
is
increasing of those
men who put no trust in the methods of materialistic

science when it deals with those questions which have to
do with " non-matter," or matter which
to our minds.
Just as art
primitives, so
these
'
men
is
are
is
not accessible
looking for help from the

turning to half-forgotten
Wagner, ButlerofF (Petersburg), Crookes (London), etc. ; later

H. Richet, C. Flammarion. The Parisian paper " Le Matin," pubabout two years ago the discoveries of the two last named under the
Zoller,
on, C.
lished
"Je le constate, mais je ne I'explique pas." Finally there are C.

Lombroso, the inventor of the anthropological method of diagnosing
title
crime, and Eusapio Palladino.
28
times in order to get help from their half-forgotten methods.
However, these very methods
whom
are
alive
still
and in use
among
nations
ledge,
have been accustomed to regard with pity and
scorn.
To
we, from the height of our know-
such nations belong the Indians,
who from
time to time confront those learned in our civilization
with problems which
we have
either passed by unnoticed
or brushed aside with superficial words and explanations.^
Frau Blavatzky was the

years
India,
in
" savages "
to
first
see
person, after a
connexion
and our " civilization."
there began a tremendous spiritual
day includes a large
assumed
a material
between
From
that
many
these
moment
movement which
to-
number of people and has even
form
in the Theosophical Society,
society consists
of groups
problem of the
spirit
The
of
life
who
seek
to
This
approach the
by way of the inner knowledge.
theory of Theosophy which serves
as
the basis to
movement was set out by Blavatzky in the form of

catechism in which the pupil receives definite answers
this
a
to
his questions
from the theosophical point
Frequently in such cases use
same hypnotism which,
is
in its earlier
ot
made of the word hypnotism ;
H.
P. Blavatzky,
"The Key
that
form of mesmerism, was disdainfully
put aside by various learned bodies.

^
view.^
of Theosophy," London, 1889.
III.
29
Theosophy, according to Blavatzky, is synonymous with

eternal truth, " The new torch-bearer of truth will find
men prepared for his

him in which to clothe
the minds of
ready for
message, a language
the
new
which
will
obstacles
and
brings, an organization awaiting his arrival,
remove the merely mechanical, material

difficulties
tinues
"
from
The
his path."
And
truths he
then Blavatzky con-
earth will be a heaven in the twenty-first
century in comparison with what
it
is
now," and with
these words ends her book.
When
last
religion, science
by the strong hand of Nietzsche, and when the outer
supports threaten to
nals in
first
and morality are shaken, the two
fall,
on to himself.
man
turns his gaze
from exter-
Literature, music and art are the
and most sensitive spheres in which
revolution makes itself felt.
They
refleft
this spiritual
the dark piflure of
show the importance of what at first

was only a little point of light noticed by few and for the
great majority non-existent. Perhaps they even grow dark
in their turn, but on the other hand they turn away from
the present time and
the soulless
life
of the present towards those substances and
30
which give
ideas
free scope to the non-material strivings
of the soul.
poet of this kind in the realm of literature
He
linck.
we term
is
Maeter-
takes us into a vôrld which, rightly or wrongly,
supernatural.
La Princesse Maleine, Les Sept
Princesses, Les Aveugles, etc., are not people of past times

as are
the heroes in Shakespeare.
lost in
the clouds, threatened by
nally
menaced by some
They
are merely souls
them with
invisible and
death, eter-
sombre power.
Spiritual darkness, the insecurity of ignorance
pervade the world in which they move.

perhaps one of the
first
and fear
Maeterlinck
prophets, one of the
first
is
artistic
reformers and seers to herald the end of the decadence

just described.
The gloom
of the spiritual atmosphere,
the terrible, but all-guiding hand, the sense of utter fear,

the feeling of having strayed from the path, the confusion
among
the guides,
all
these are clearly felt in his
works.
This atmosphere Maeterlinck creates principally by

purely
To
artistic
means.
His material machinery (gloomy
the front rank of such seers of the decadence belongs also Alfred
Kubin. With irresistible force both Kubin's drawings and also his novel
" Die Andere Seite " seem to engulf us in the terrible atmosphere of empty
desolation.
III.
31
mountains, moonlight, marshes, wind, the cries of owls,

etc.)
plays really a symbolic role and helps to give the
inner note.^
Maeterlinck's principal technical weapon
his use of words.
The word may
express an inner har-
mony. This inner harmony springs

from the objedt which
cipally,
not itself seen, but only
is
its
it
perhaps prin-
partly,
names.
name
is
But
if
the objed:
heard, the mind of the
hearer receives an abstract impression only, that
is
to say
of the object dematerialized, and a corresponding vibra-
as
tion
is
immediately
llie apt use of a
set
up
word
in the heart,
(in its poetical
meaning), repeti-
tion of this word, twice, three times or even
more
fre-
quently, according to the need of the poem, will not only
tend to intensify the inner harmony but also bring to light
unsuspefted spiritual properties of the word
When
his
own
one of Maeterlinck's plays was produced in
itself.
St.
to have elaborate scenery prepared.
aginers of
all
He
It
was of no importance
it is
in that
of Russia, an important part.
in the transition
And
in the
changed from a knight into a horse.
similar lines the imagination of the spectator plays in the
the future.
him
time, always do in their games; for they use a stick for a
a chalk with a notch in
and especially
to
did as children, the greatest im-
horse or create entire regiments of cavalry out of chalks.
element
Petersburg under
guidance, he himself at one of the rehearsals had a tower repre-
sented by a plain piece of hanging linen.
way
Further
from the material to the
And
modern
this
is
same
On
theatre,
a notable
spiritual in the theatre
of
32
than that, frequent repetition of a word (again a favourite
game of children,-which
the word of its original
is
forgotten in after
external meaning.
life)
deprives
Similarly, in
drawing, the abstradl message of the objedl drawn tends to
be forgotten and
its
meaning
unconsciously hear this real
with the material or
But
of the obje6l.
later
lost.
Sometimes perhaps we
harmony sounding together
on with the non-material sense
in the latter case the true
exercises a dired: impression
on the
The
soul.
harmony
soul under-
goes an emotion which has no relation to any definite

objeft, an
emotion more complicated,
might
say
more
super-sensuous than the emotion caused by the sound of a
This
bell or of a stringed instrument.
line of
development
of the future.
offers great possibilities to the literature
In
power has already been

an embryonic form this word
"
^
As Maeterlinck uses them,
Serres Chaudes."
used in
words which seem
at first to create
pression have really a
word
more
like " hair," if used in a certain
linck's
method.
moon behind
"
linck.
He
And
this
is
Maeter-
shows that thunder, lightning and a
driving clouds, in themselves material means,
Serres Chaudes, suivies de
Bruxelles.
Even a familiar
way can intensify
subtle value.
an atmosphere of sorrow or despair.
only a neutral im-
Lacomblez.
Quinze Chansons," par Maurice Maeter2
f.
50
c.
III.
33
can be used in the theatre to create a greater sense of terror

than they do in nature.
The
true inner forces do not lose their strength and
efFe6t so easily.^
the
first diredl,
And
word which
the
the second indireft,
is
has
two meanings,
the pure material of
poetry and of literature, the material which these arts

alone can manipulate and through
the
which they speak
to
spirit.
Something similar may be noticed
Wagner. His famous
kit motiv
sonaility to his charafters
expedients and light

motiv
is
is
in
the music of
an attempt to give per-
by something beyond
efFedl.
a purely musical
theatrical
His method of using

method.
creates
It
a definite
a spiritual
atmosphere by means of a musical phrase which precedes

the hero, which he seems to radiate forth from any distance.^
The most modern
musicians like Debussy create
from nature, but emFor this reason Debussy
a spiritual impression, often taken
bodied in purely musical form.

often classed with
is
^
the impressionist painters on the
comparison between the work of Poe and Maeterlinck shows the
course of artistic transition from the material to the

*
Frequent attempts have shown that such a
belong not only to heroes but to any
human
abstra(Si:.
spiritual
being.
example, remain in a room in which a person has been

antagonistic to them, even though they
know
atmosphere can
Sensitives cannot, for
who
is
spiritually
nothing of his existence.
34
ground that he resembles these painters
in using natural
phenomena
Whatever
there
for the purposes of his art.
may be
in this
comparison merely accentuates the
fal that the various arts of to-day learn
But
and often resemble each other.

that this definition
musician
for in his
it
from each other
would be
rash to say
an exhaustive statement of Debussy's
Despite his similarity with the impressionists
significance.
this
is
truth
is
deeply concerned with spiritual harmony,
works one hears the suffering and tortured nerves
of the present time.
wholly material note
And
further Debussy never uses the
so characteristic of
but trusts mainly in the creation of a
programme music,
more abstrafl im-
pression.
Debussy has had
a great influence
notably on Mussorgsky.
So
it
stands in close relation to the
the chief of
hearer
is
whom
is
is
on Russian music,
not surprising that he
young Russian composers,
Skrjabin.
The
experience of the
frequently the same during the performance ot
the works of these two musicians.

quite suddenly from a series of
charm of more
He
modern
is
discords into the
or less conventional beauty.
self often insulted, tossed
often snatched
He feels
him-
about like a tennis ball over the
net between the two parties of the outer and the inner
beauty.
To
those
who
are not
accustomed to
it
the inner
III.
beauty appears
as
ugliness because
humanity
in severing
himself from conventional beauty
He
the Austrian composer, Arnold Schonberg.
is
his " Harmonielehre "
every advance
is
am
possible, but I
beginning to
to the use of this or that dissonance."
This means that Schonberg
freedom of
all,
be absolute.
feel that
which
incline
realizes that the greatest
the freedom of an unfettered
Every age achieves
art,
can never
measure of this
a certain
freedom, but beyond the boundaries of
its
freedom the
But the measure of
mightiest genius can never go.
dom
says in
" Every combination of notes,
there are also definite rules and conditions
me
in general
and knows nothing of the inner.
inclines to the outer
Almost alone
35
of each age must be constantly enlarged.
free-
Schonberg
endeavouring to make complete use of his freedom and
is
has already discovered gold mines of

search for spiritual harmony.
and
in his
His music leads us into
realm where musical experience

but of the soul alone
new beauty
is
a matter not of the ear
from
this point begins the
music of the future.
A parallel course has been followed by the

movement
'
in painting.
" Die Musik,"
versal Edition).
p.
It
is
seen in
its
impressionist
dogmatic and
104, from the " Harmonielehre" (Verlag der Uni-
36
most
The
naturalistic
form
theory of this
glitter
is
in
so-called Neo-Impressionism.
to put
on the canvas the whole
and brilliance of nature, and not only an
isolated
aspeft of her.
It is interesting to notice three praftically
and
contemporary
They
groups in painting.
totally different
are (i)
Rossetti and his pupil Burne-Jones, with their followers

(2)
Bocklin and his school;
Segantini, with his un-
(3)
worthy following of photographic

I
have chosen these three groups
for the abstract in art.
to illustrate the search
Rossetti sought to revive the non-
materialism of the pre-Raphaelites.

self
artists.
Bocklin busied him-
with mythological scenes, but was in contrast
Rossetti in that he gave strongly material
legendary figures.
form
to
to his
Segantini, outwardly the most material
of the three, selected the most ordinary objedts

stones, cattle, etc.) often painting
(hills,
them with the minutest
realism, but he never failed to create a spiritual as well as

a material value, so that really
of the
he
is
the most non-material
trio.
These men sought
for the " inner "
by way of the
" outer."
By another
road, and one
seeker after a
new
more purely
artistic,
the great
sense of form approached the
same
Durer.
The
Descent from the Cross
III.
Cezanne made
problem.
37
a living thing out of a teacup,
or rather in a teacup he realized the existence of some-
He
thing alive.
raised
still
life
to such a point that
it
ceased to be inanimate.
He
human
painted these things as he painted
beings,
because he vâs endowed with the gift of divining the

inner
everything.
life in
the spiritual harmony.
suitable to
apple,
all
His colour and form are alike
were used by Cezanne
man,
a tree,
in the creation of
an
some-
called a " pifture," and
which is a piece of
true inward and artistic harmony. The same intention
aftuates the work of one of the greatest of the young
thing that
is
He
Frenchmen, Henri Matisse.

in these
To
paints " piftures,'* and
pidtures " endeavours to reproduce the divine.^
'*
attain this
end he requires
as a starting
point nothing
but the objedt to be painted (human being or whatever

it
may
and then the methods that belong
be),
and form.
alone, colour
By
personal inclination,
because he
to lay too
is
stress
cannot always refrain
'
because
he
is
French and
specially gifted as a colourist, Matisse
much
pressionism
to painting
is
on the colour.
Cf. his article in "
One
apt
Like Debussy, he
from conventional beauty
in his blood.
is
sees pidlures
Im-
of Matisse
Kunst und Kunstler," 1909, No.
8.
38
which
are full of great
inward
vitality,
produced by the
of the inner need, and also piftures which possess
stress
only outer charm, because they were painted on an outer
(How
impulse.
His work seems
often one
is
reminded of Manet
to be typical
in this.)
French painting, with
its
dainty sense of melody, raised from time to time to the
summit of
But
a great hill above the clouds.
in the
work of another
Spaniard Pablo Picasso, there

this conventional beauty.
great artist in Paris, the

is
never any suspicion of
Tossed hither and thither by the
need for self-expression, Picasso hurries from one manner

to another.
At times
a great gulf appears
between conse-
cutive manners, because Picasso leaps boldly and
continually by his bewildered
is
crowd of followers
found
stand-
ing at a point very different from that at which they saw
him
him
last.
No
sooner do they think that they have reached
again than he has changed once more.
In this
way
there arose Cubism, the latest of the French movements,
which
is
treated in detail in Part 11.
arrive at constru6liveness
latest
works (191
1)
Picasso
is
trying to
by way of proportion.
In his
he has achieved the logical destrudlion
of matter, not, however, by dissolution but rather by a
kind of a parcelling out of
its
various divisions and a con-
stru6tive scattering of these divisions about the canvas.
III.
But he seems
in this
most recent work
distinctly desirous
He
of keeping an appearance of matter.
shrinks from no
innovation, and if colour seems likely to balk

search for a pure artistic form, he throws
artistic
it
him
in his
overboard and
brown and white and the problem of

form is the real problem of his life.
paints a pifture in
purely
39
In their pursuit of the same supreme end Matisse and

Picasso stand side by side, Matisse representing colour
and Picasso form.
IV.
THE
PYRAMID
AND
so at different points along
what they
different arts, saying

say,
and in the
the road are the
anguage which
is
are
best able to
peculiarly their own.
Despite, or perhaps thanks to, the differences between
them, there has never been
time
when
the arts approached
each other more nearly than they do to-day, in this later

phase of spiritual development.
In each manifestation
the
abstradl,
the
is
the seed of a striving towards
non-material.
Consciously
consciously they are obeying Socrates'

thyself.
Consciously or unconsciously
command
artists are
or
un-
Know
studying
and proving their material, setting in the balance the

40
THE PYRAMID
IV.
spiritual value
41
of those elements, with which
it
their
is
several privilege to work.
And
the
result of this
natural
various arts are drawing together.
striving
They
the
that
is
are finding in
Music the best teacher. With few exceptions music has

been for some centuries the art which has devoted itself
not to the reproduftion of natural phenomena, but rather
to the expression of the artist's soul, in musical sound.
A
tion,
painter,
who
however
finds
no
artistic, in his
mere representa-
longing to express his inner
cannot but envy the ease with which music, the
life,
most non-material of the
He
satisfadlion in
naturally seeks to apply the
own
art.
rhythm
And from
methods of music
this results that
in painting, for
this end.
arts to-day, achieves
modern
to his
desire for
mathematical, abstrad: construc-
repeated notes of colour, for setting colour in
tion, for
motion.
This borrowing of method by one

can only be truly successful
when
borrowed methods
superficial
One
that
art
borrower's art
artist
not
first
but fundamental.
uses its methods, so
be
applied
from the beginning, and
must not forget
that in
him
from another,
the application of the
how another
methods may afterwards
must learn
the
is
art
lies
the
to
suitably.
the
The
power of true
42
power must be
application of every method, but that that
developed.
In manipulation of form music
which
beyond
are
other hand, painting
form
the
at its disposal duration
while painting can present to the spectator the
whole content of
which
On
painting.
ahead of music in several par-
Music, for example, has
ticulars.
of time
is
of
reach
the
can achieve results
message
its
at
one moment.^
Music,
outwardly unfettered by nature, needs no definite
is
for
expression.^
its
with
concerned
clusively
Painting to-day
is
reprodu6iion
the
almost exof natural
Her business is now to test her

and methods, to know herself as music has done
forms and phenomena.

strength
^
These statements of
difference are,
of course, relative;
for
music
can on occasions dispense with extension of time, and painting make use
of
it.
^
How
miserably
appearances
Quite
lately
of croaking
is
music
proved
fails
when
attempting
such experiments have been made.

frogs,
to
express
The
imitation in sound
of farmyard noises, of household duties, makes an excel-
lent music hall turn
and
is
amusing enough.
But
in serious
attempts are merely warnings against any imitation of nature.
own language, and a

The sound of a farmyard
her
material
by the affected absurdity of programme music.
powerful one
this
music such
Nature has
language cannot be imitated.
music is never successfully reproduced, and is

unnecessary waste of time. The " stimmung " of nature can be imparted by
every
art, not,
inner
spirit.
in
however, by imitation, but by the
artistic divination
of
its
THE PYRAMID
IV.
for a long time,
43
and then to use her powers to a truly
artistic end.
And
from
that
so the arts are
encroaching one upon another, and
a proper use of this

is
truly
monumental.
encroachment will
Every man
who
rise
the art
steeps
self in the spiritual possibilities of his art is
him-
a valuable
helper in the building of the spiritual pyramid which

will
some day reach
to heaven.
ABOUT PAINTING
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WORKING

OF COLOUR
V.
TO
let
the eye stray over a palette, splashed with
colours, produces a dual result.
In the
receives a purely physical impression^ one
contentment
is
either
at
first
place one
of pleasure and
the varied and beautiful colours.
warmed
many
or else soothed and cooled.
physical sensations can only be of short duration.
The
eye
But these
They
are
merely superficial and leave no lasting impression, for the

soul
is
is
unafFefled.
forgotten
when
But although the

the eye
impression of varied colour
whole chain of related
On the average man
is
efFeft
of the colours
turned away, the superficial
may
be the starting point of a
sensations.
only the impressions caused by very

47
ABOUT PAINTING
48
A first encounter
familiar objefts, will be purely superficial.
with any new phenomenon exercises immediately an impression on the soul.
This
discovering the world, to
whom
sees a light, wishes to take

feels
the experience of the child
is
every objedl
hold of
is
He
burns his finger and
it,
But
henceforward a proper respeft for flame.
he learns that light has
new.
later
a friendly as well as an unfriendly
away the darkness, makes the day longer,

warmth, cooking, play-a6ling. From the mass
side, that it drives

is
essential to
of these discoveries
which
is
is
composed
indelibly fixed in his mind.
interest disappears
knowledge of
The
strong, intensive
and the various properties of flame are
balanced against each other.
In this
becomes gradually disenchanted.
way
the whole world
It is realized that trees
give shade, that horses run fast and motor-cars

that dogs bite, that the figure seen in a mirror
human
caused by
is
not a real
develops, the circle of these experiences
diff'erent
beings and objedts, grows ever wider.
acquire an inner meaning and eventually a spiritual
harmony.
a
still faster,
being.
As the man
They
light,
It is
the same with colour,
momentary and
superficial
impression on a soul but
slightly developed in sensitiveness.
impression varies in quality.
which makes only
The
But even
eye
is
this superficial
strongly attracted
V.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WORKING OF COLOUR
by
light, clear colours,
and
still
more
49
strongly attrafted by
which are warm as well as clear vermilion

has the charm of flame, which has always attracted human
beings. Keen lemon-yellow hurts the eye in time as a prothose colours
longed and
away
trumpet-note the
shrill
to a
more
sensitive soul the efFeft of colours
and intensely moving.

result of looking
They produce
is
and the gazer turns
to seek relief in blue or green.
But
main
ear,
only
And
at
so
colours
is
these last few lines imply, or whether
perhaps open to question.
is
it is
a direft one, as
the outcome of
The
soul being one
with the body, the former may well experience

shock, caused by association afting on the
ample, red
may
it
of importance.
the psychic effeft of colour
is
effedl.
towards this spiritual vibration that the
elementary physical impression
association,
to the second
their psychic
deeper
corresponding spiritual vibration, and
as a step
Whether
we come
is
latter.
psychic
For ex-
cause a sensation analogous to that caused
by flame, because red
is
the colour of flame.
A warm
red
will prove exciting, another shade of red will cause pain or
disgust through association with running blood.

cases colour
awakens
a corresponding physical sensation,
which undoubtedly works upon the

If this
In these
were always the
case,
it
soul.
would be
easy to define
ABOUT PAINTING
so
by association the
that of sight.
because
it
effects
One might
say that keen yellow looks sour,
recalls the taste
But such
of a lemon.
definitions are not universally possible.
many examples
are
of colour upon other senses than
of colour working which refuse to be
A Dresden
so classified.
There
whom he designates as
dodor
relates
of one of his patients,
an " exceptionally sensitive person,"
that he could not eat a certain sauce without tasting ''blue,"

i,e,
It
without experiencing a feeling of seeing
would be possible
by way of explanation of
to suggest,
highly sensitive people, the
this, that in
a blue colour.^
way
to the soul
so direft and the soul itself so impressionable, that
pression of taste
and thence
soul,
the eyes).
such
as
communicates
itself
is
any im-
immediately to the
to the other organs of sense (in this case,
This would imply an echo or reverberation,
occurs sometimes in musical instruments which,
without being touched, sound in harmony with some other

instrument struck
But not only with
harmony.
in
Many
or sticky, others as
^
Dr. Freudenberg.
1908. No.
2, p.
moment.
the
at
taste has sight
colours have been described as rough
smooth and uniform,
64-65).
The
law
is
that
one
author also discusses the hearing of colour,
and says that here also no

" Musik," Moskow. 191 1. No.
a
so
Spaltung der Personlichkeit (Ubersinnliche Welt.
down. But
where the imminent
rules can be laid
down
been known to work
clearly hinted at.
9,
cf.
L. SabanejefF in
possibility
of laying
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WORKING OF COLOUR
V.
feels inclined to stroke
them
{e.g.,
oxyde green, and rose madder).

between
warm and
Some
tion.
dark ultramarine, chrom-
Equally the distinftion
cold colours belongs to this connec-
colours appear soft (rose madder), others hard
(cobalt green, blue-green oxide), so that even fresh
from
the tube they seem to be dry.
expression " scented colours "
The
And
with.
finally the
would be hard
it
is
sound of colours
anyone
to find
is
frequently
met
so definite that
who would
try to express
bright yellow in the bass notes, or dark lake in the treble.^'
The
explanation
by association will not
many, and the most important

^
Much
suffice
in
Those who have
cases.
theory and pra6tice have been devoted to this question.
have sought to paint in counterpoint.
us
People
Also unmusical children have been
by quoting a
parallel in colour {e.g., of

A. Sacharjin-Unkowsky has wôrked for
several years and has evolved a method of " so describing sounds by natural
colours, and colours by natural sounds, that colour could be heard and
sound seen." The system has proved successful for several years both in
successfully helped to play the piano
On
flowers).
these lines Frau
the inventor's ovv^n school and the Conservatoire at

Skrjabin, on
more
spiritual lines, has paralleled
not unlike that of Frau
'
1,
No.
The
has given con(His chart appeared in " Musik," Moskow,
9.)
converse question,
i,e.
the colour of sound,
Mallarmd and systematized by his

"Traite du Verbe," gives the rules
M. T. H.
Petersburg. Finally
Unkowsky. In " Prometheus'* he
vincing proof of his theories.
191
St.
sounds and colours in a chart
S.
disciple
for
Ren6
was touched upon by

Ghil, whose book,
" I'instrumentation verbale."
ABOUT PAINTING
52
know
heard of chromotherapy will
that coloured light
can exercise very definite influences on the whole^body.
Attempts have been made with different colours
in the
They have shown
treatment of various nervous ailments.
that red light stimulates and excites the heart, while blue
can
light
temporary
cause
But when
paralysis.
the
experiments come to be tried on animals and even plants,

the
association
bound
to
theory
So one
the ground.
to
falls
admit that the question
at present
is
is
unexplored,
but that colour can exercise enormous influence over the
body
as a physical
organism.
No more sufficient, in the psychic sphere,

association.
Generally speaking, colour
direftly influences the soul.
Colour
eyes are the hammers, the soul
The
strings.
key
//
artist is
is
is
is
the theory of
is
power which
the key-board, the
the piano with
many
the hand which plays, touching one
or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.

is
evident therefore that colour harmony must rest only on
a corresponding
vibration in the
human
soul;
and this
is
one of
the guiding principles of the inner need}
phrase "inner need " (innere Notwendigkeit) means primarily the
The
impulse
felt
by the
artist for spiritual expression.
ever, to use the phrase sometimes to
mean not only
expression, but also the adlual expression
itself.
Kandinsky is apt, howthe hunger for spiritual
M. T. H.
S.
VI.
THE LANGUAGE OF
FORM AND COLOUR
The man
Nor
is
that hath
no music
Is fit for treasons, stratagems,
The
And
in himself,
not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
motions of
and
spoils;
his spirit are dull as night,
his afFe6tions
dark
Let no such man be
as
Erebus:
trusted.
Mark
the music.
(^Merchant of Venice^ A6t v, Scene
USICAL
sound
a6ts direftly
on the soul and
i.)
finds
an echo there because, though to varying extents,
music
^
is
innate in man.^
Cf. E. Jacques-Dalcroze in
London, Constable,
is. net.
"
The Eurhythmies
M. T. H.
53
S.
of Jacques-Dalcroze."
ABOUT PAINTING
54
Everyone knows that yellow, orange, and red suggest

ideas of joy and plenty " (Delacroix)/
These two quotations show the deep relationship between the
Goethe
arts,
said
and especially between music and painting.
that painting
must count
this relationship
her main foundation, and by this prophetic remark he
seems to
She
foretell the position in
stands,
which she
art
in
fa6t,
at
the
which painting
first
to-day.
stage of the road
own
according to her
will,
is
possibilities,
by
make
an abstraftion of thought and arrive finally at purely
artistic
composition.^
Painting has two weapons at her disposal

1.
Colour.
2.
Form.
Form
can stand alone
as
representing an objeft (either
real or otherwise) or as a purely
abstract limit to a space
or a surface.
Colour cannot stand alone
Cf.
Paris.
Paul Signac,
Floury,
frs.
it
cannot dispense with
" D'Eugene Delacroix au Neo-Impressionisme.**

article by K. Schettler
Also compare an interesting
" Notizen ilber die Farbe." ("Decorative Kunst," 1901, February).

^ By
" Komposition " Kandinsky here means, of course, an artistic
creation.
He
is
not referring to the arrangement of the objefts
piaure. M. T. H.
S.
in a
THE LANGUAGE OF FORM AND COLOUR

boundaries of some kind.^ A never-ending extent of
VI.
can only be seen in the mind

heard, the colour
when
evoked without
is
the
S5
red
word red
is
definite boundaries.
If such are necessary they have deliberately to be imagined.
But such
red, as
is
seen by the
mind and not by the
eye,
exercises at once a definite and an indefinite impression
on the soul, and produces spiritual harmony.

finite,"
because in
itself it
cold, such attributes
has no suggestion of
warmth
having to be imagined for
wards, as modifications of the original "redness."

finite,"
say " inde-
it
or
after-
say "de-
because the spiritual harmony exists without any
need for such subsequent attributes of warmth or cold.
An
analogous case
hears
sound
when
is
the
is
the sound of a trumpet which one
word " trumpet
audible
to
the
soul,
"
is
pronounced.
This
without the distinftive
charafter of a trumpet heard in the open air or in
room, played alone or with other instruments, in the

hands of a postilion, a huntsman, a soldier, or a professional musician.
But when red
is
presented in a material form
Cf. A. Wallace Rimington. Colour music (op,

are recounted with a colour organ,
which
cit,)
(as
in
where experiments
gives symphonies of rapidly
changing colour without boundaries except the unavoidable ones of the

white curtain on which the colours are refleded. M. T. H. S.
ABOUT PAINTING
S6
painting)
many
it
must possess
(i)
some
definite shade of the
shades of red that exist and
limited surface,
(2) a
divided off from the other colours, which are undoubtedly
The
there.
afFe6led
first
of these conditions (the subjeftive)
by the second (the
obje6tive), for the
is
neighbour-
ing colours afFeft the shade of red.
This
essential
connexion between colour and form
brings us to the question of the influences of form on
Form
colour.
alone, even
geometrical, has a
though
power of inner
suggestion.
(without the accessory consideration of
its
and
abstradl
totally
triangle
being acute or
obtuse-angled or equilateral) has a spiritual value of
its
may
be
own.
In connexion with other forms, this value
somewhat modified, but remains
The
case
is
As above, with the
have here a subjeflive substance
The mutual
quality the same.
similar with a circle, a square, or any con-
ceivable geometrical figure.^
clear.
in
in an
objedive
influence of form and colour
yellow triangle, a blue
circle, a
The
we
shell.
now becomes
green square, or
a green triangle, a yellow circle, a blue square
are different
red,
all
these
and have different spiritual values.
angle at which the triangle stands, and whether
moving, are of importance to
its
of the painter's consideration.
spiritual value.
This
fadl
it is
is
stationary or
specially
worthy
^H
[H 1^^^
B|
^^^
M^^
Ik
m^H
^^M m.
^^^^M
s
LAii.^^^
H'
^^m
mmVI
^^^^^m^^^fi
aliiiL
p ^9 l^^l
^^ u^^^^^^^^^H
\9lp
K^'Î^^^^^^^H
^jHi^1
H
^S I^Hi^^B
Raphael.
The
Canigiani Holy Family
VI.
It is
57
many colours are hampered and even

by many forms. On the whole, keen
evident that
nullified in efFeft
colours are well suited by sharp forms
and
triangle),
But
circle).
soft,
deep colours by round forms
(e,g,^
a blue
must be remembered that an unsuitable
it
combination of form and colour

ant, but
a yellow
{e.g.^
is
not necessarily discord-
may, with manipulation, show the way
to fresh
of harmony.
possibilities
Since colours and forms are well-nigh innumerable,

their combination
The
ing.
Form,
line
material
and their influences are likewise unendinexhaustible.
is
narrow
in the
sense,
is
nothing but the separating
between surfaces of colour.
That
ing.
But
sity,^
and, properly speaking, y^rw
outer mean-
has also an inner meaning, of varying inten-
it
of this inner meaning.
To
the piano
is
the
this or that
is its
artist
key
or that way.
(/.6'.,
So
use once
is
the
more the metaphor of
the hand which, by playing on
form), aifedls the
it is
outward expression
evident that
only on a corresponding vibration
human
soul in this
form-harmony must
of the human
soul;
rest
ajid this is
a second guiding principle of the inner need,

^
It
is
never
Every form
any form is meaningless and "says nothing.'*

world says something. But its message often fails to
literally true that
in the
reach us, and even
if it does, full
understanding
is
often withheld from us.
ABOUT PAINTING
58
The two
aims. The
aspedts of
form
mentioned define
just
outer task
will never
(i)
of
in one of
fail
Either form aims
and value
as
a trapeze, etc.,
shapes
but
it
two purposes
at so
material, spiritual entity.
is
fully expressed.^
is
may assume many different
limiting surfaces as to fashion
them some material object

(2) Or form remains abstrafl,
life
two
task of limiting surfaces (the outer aspedt)
well performed if the inner meaning
The
its
describing only a non-
Such non-material
entities,
with
such, are a circle, a triangle, a rhombus,
many of them
so
complicated
as to
have
no mathematical denomination.
Between these two extremes
which both elements
in
exist;
the innumerable forms
with a preponderance either
of the abstraft or the material.

are, at present,
lie
These intermediate forms
the store on which the artist has to draw.
Purely abstrafl forms are beyond the reach of the

present; they are too indefinite for him.
self to the purely indefinite
possibilities, to
weaken
to
is
The
his
exclude the
power of
limit
him-
to rob himself of
human element and
therefore
expression.
phrase, " full expression,"
most expressive when
would be
To
artist at
must be
least coherent.
clearly understood.
It is often
Form often
most expressive when
outwardly most imperfedt, perhaps only a stroke, a mere hint of outer
meaning.
VI.
On
the other hand,
material form.
artists,
to
who
aim
at
evil,
more
hands, which are perhaps
and refuse
purely
material objedt cannot be absolutely
For good or
reproduced.
equally no
there exists
59
the
has eyes and
artist
artistic
than his intentions
photography alone.
Many
genuine
cannot be content with a mere inventory of
material objedts, seek to express the objedls by
what was
once called " idealization," then " seleflion," and which
to-morrow will again be
The
called
something
different.^
impossibility and, in art, the uselessness of attempt-
ing to copy an objedl exa6lly, the desire to give the objedt

expression, are the impulses
full
away from
*'
literal "
which drive the
colouring to purely artistic aims.
artist
And
that brings us to the question of composition.^
Pure
1.
2.
out
The
The
The
its
composition has two elements:
artistic
composition of the whole pifture.

creation of the various forms which, by standing
motive of idealization
beautification as at
of non-essentials.
is
so to beautify the organic form as to bring
" Selection " aims not so much at

emphasizing the character of the obje6l, by the omission
harmony and
rouse poetic feeling.
The desire of the future will be purely the

The organic form no longer serves as
the inner meaning.
but as the
order for
human words
it
in
which a divine message must be written,
to be comprehensible to
Here Kandinsky means
expression of
diredl object,
human
in
minds.
arrangement of the
pidlure.
M. T. H.
S.
ABOUT PAINTING
6o
compo-
in different relationships to each other, decide the
Many
sition of the whole. ^
in the light of the
importance only
and
to be considered
little
as to suit this
meaning, being of
in so far as they help the general effefl.
single objefts
must be fashioned
not because their
this,
have
whole, and so ordered
Singly they will have
whole.
These
objefts
own
one way only;
in
inner meaning demands
that particular fashioning, but entirely because they have

serve as
to
building-material for
the
whole
composi-
tion.^
So the abstradt idea

yesterday,
ideals.
Its
The
tions
sitions
creeping into
gradual advance
is
although, only
natural enough, for in pro-
general composition will naturally include
antagonism
the
to each other,
many
little
though helping
harmony of the whole. These
composi-
perhaps by
little
compo-
have themselves subdivisions of varied inner meanings.
A good
form of a
example
triangle.
is
Cezanne's Bathing
Such building
is
Women, which
has given
it
built in the
it lifeless.
But Cezanne
He does not use it to harmonize his groups, but

purposes. He distorts the human figure with per fedt justifi-
new
for purely artistic
is
an old principle, which was being
abandoned only because academic usage had made
cation.
art,
was scorned and obscured by purely material
which may be antagonistic
their very
it
is
life.
Not only must
the whole figure follow the lines of the triangle,
but each limb must grow narrower from bottom to top.
Raphael's " Holy
Family" is an example of triangular composition used only

monizing of the group, and without any mystical motive.
for the har-
VI.
portion as the organic form
6i
into the background, the
falls
abstract ideal achieves greater prominence.
But the organic form possesses
mony
its
of
its
all
the same an inner har-
own, which may be either the same
abstraft parallel (thus
may
of
producing a simple combination of
the two elements) or totally different
combination
as that
(in
which
case the
However
form may be, its
be unavoidably discordant).
diminished in importance the organic

inner note will always be heard
and for this reason the
The spiritual
accord of the organic with the abstraft element may
strengthen the appeal of the latter (as much by contrast
as by similarity) or may destroy it.
Suppose a rhomboidal composition, made up of a number
of human figures. The artist asks himself: Are these human
choice of material objefls
is
an important one.
figures an absolute necessity to the composition, or should
they be replaced by other forms, and that without affefting
harmony of the whole ? If the answer is

we have a case in which the material appeal direftly
the fundamental
" Yes,"
weakens the abstrafl appeal. The human form must either

be replaced by another objeft which, whether by similarity
or contrast, will strengthen the abstraft appeal, or
must
remain a purely non-material symbol.^

^
Cf. Translator's Introdudlion, pp.
xx and
xxiii.
M. T. H.
S.
ABOUT PAINTING
62
or
Once more the metaphor of the piano. For "colour"

"form" substitute " objedt." Every objecS has its own
and therefore
life
subjeft
to
these
own
its
appeals.
man
appeal;
But
the
results
dubbed either sub- or super-conscious.

to
say the ever-changing
continually
is
are
often
Nature, that
surroundings of man,
sets
is
in
vibration the strings of the piano (the soul) by mani-
pulation of the keys (the various objects with their several

appeals).
The
impressions
we
which
receive,
often appear merely
chaotic, consist of three elements: the impression of the
colour of the object, of its form, and of its combined colour
and form,
At
front
i,e,
of the objeft itself
this point the individuality of the artist
and disposes,
as
he
wills, these three elements.
clear, therefore, that the choice
in the
human
of the inner
The more
its
appeal.
more
more
of obje5i
(i.e.
to the
It
is
of one of the elements
harmony ofform) must be decided only by a corresponding
vibration in the
ciple
comes
soul;
and
this is
a third guiding prin-
need.
abstract
is
form, the more clear and direft
In any composition the material side
may
is
be
or less omitted in proportion as the forms used are

or less material, and for
them
substituted pure abs-
tractions, or largely dematerialized objects.
The more
an
VI.
forms, the deeper and more con-
artist uses these abstradled
fidently will
And
also will
he advance into the kingdom of the abstraft.
him
after
63
who
will follow the gazer at his pictures,
have gradually acquired
a greater familiarity
with
the language of that kingdom.
Must we then abandon

paint solely in abstra6tions
utterly all material objedls

?
The problem
and
of harmonizing
the appeal of the material and the non-material shows us

the answer to this question.
As every word spoken
rouses
an inner vibration, so likewise does every objeft represented.
To deprive oneself of this

of expression.
That
is at
possibility
is
to limit one's
any rate the case
besides this answer to the question, there
one which
art
is
at present.
is
But
another, and
can always employ to any question begin-
ning with "must": There

art
powers
is
no "must"
in art, because
free.
With
regard to the second problem of composition, the
creation of the single elements
whole,
it
which
are to
compose the
must be remembered that the same form
in the
same circumstances will always have the same inner appeal.
Only the circumstances are constantly varying. It results

that: (i) The ideal harmony alters according to the relation to other forms of the form which causes it. (2) Even
in similar relationship a slight
approach to or withdrawal
ABOUT PAINTING
64
from other forms may
Form-composition
absolute.
pending on
down
sitive as a
the harmony.^
rests
(2)
on a relative
is
basis, de-
alterations in each individual
to the very smallest.
Every form
puff of smoke, the slightest breath
completely.
Nothing
the alterations in the mutual relations of
(i)
forms one to another,

form,
affedt
This extreme mobility makes
is
as sen-
wîll
alter it
it
to
easier
obtain similar harmonies from the use of different forms,
than from a repetition of the same one; though of course an
harmony can never be produced.

susceptible only to the appeal of a whole
exa6l replica of a spiritual
So long
as
we
are
composition, this fadt
But when
is
of mainly theoretical importance.
we become more
abstraft forms
sensitive
by
a constant use of
(which have no material interpretation)
become of great practical significance. And

becomes more difficult, its wealth of expression
will
it
so as art
in
form
becomes greater and greater. At the same time the question

of distortion in drawing
question
how
far
falls
out and
possibilities are
replaced by the
the inner appeal of the particular form
veiled or given full expression.
is
is
And once more
the
extended, for combinations of veiled and
meant by " an appeal of motion." For example, the

appeal of an upright triangle is more steadfast and quiet than that of one set
obliquely on its side.
^
This
is
what
is
VI.
fully expressed appeals suggest
new
kit motiven in
6$
compo-
sition.
Without such development
To anyone who
impossible.
as this,
form-composition
cannot experience the inner
appeal of form (whether material or abstract) such

position can never be other than meaningless.
aimless alterations in form-arrangement will
merely
which
principle,
we
So once more
game.
is
to set
is
art
are faced
free, the
com-
Apparently
make
art
seem
with the same
principle of the
inner need.
When
features or limbs for artistic reasons are
or distorted,
men
rejeft the artistic
on the secondary question

argument,
this
problem and
of anatomy.
But,
changed
fall
back
on our
secondary consideration does not appear,
only the real, artistic question remaining. These apparently

irresponsible, but really well-reasoned alterations in
provide one of the storehouses of
The
artistic possibilities.
adaptability of forms, their
variations, their
motion
organic but inward
in the pifture, their inclination
to material or abstra6t, their
vidually or as parts of a
form
mutual
whole
relations, either indi-
further, the concord or
discord of the various elements of a pifture, the handling of groups, the combinations of veiled
and openly ex-
pressed appeals, the use of rhythmical or unrhythmical^
ABOUT PAINTING
66
of geometrical or non-geometrical forms, their contiguity

or separation
these things are the material for counter-
all
point in painting.
But
so long as colour
excluded, such counterpoint
is
Colour provides a whole
confined to black and white.
wealth of
is
when combined
possibilities.
And all
of her own, and
possibilities
with form, yet a further
series
of
these will be expressions of the inner need.
The
(i)
inner need
Every
is
Every
up of three mystical elements:
artist, as a creator,
calls for expression

(2)
built
artist, as
(this is
has something in
the element of personality).
child of his age,
the spirit of his age
(this is the
is
(it is
continue to
doubtful
exist).
how
(3)
which
is
full
constant in
all
is
artist, as
recognize
didlated
which the
artist
a servant of art, has
among
first
sary for a realization of the third.

will
the element of pure artistry,
ages and
understanding of the
realization
to
style)
long the latter distinftion will
Every
to help the cause of art (this
impelled to express
element of
by the period and particular country

belongs
him which
that
all nationalities).
two elements
But he
who
is
neces-
has this
rudely-carved Indian
VI.
column
real
is
an expression of the same spirit
as aftuates
67
any
work of art of to-day.
In
much
the past and even to-day
" personality " in
more frequent
talk
Talk of the coming "
art.
But
daily.
for all their
is
style "
heard of
becomes
importance to-day,
these questions will have disappeared after a
few hundred
or thousand years.
Only the third element
An
remain for ever.
more
subtly than
judged
for they
it
Similarly
work of
it
modern work of
fail
to
its
with the hampering knowledge of period

as
an expression
and personality,
style
be appreciated by people to-day

art
reach
which
the
is
full
but a
of the third element,
contemporary
away before the
be received with understanding.

this third
modern
greater the part played in a
centuries have to pass
work
will
chronological contemporaries;
by the two elements of
the better will
will
artistry.
the
art
of pure artistry
But we can judge purely
and personality.
of the eternal
that
Egyptian carving speaks to us to-day
did to
it
soul.
third element can
But the
element predominates
For many
is
artist in
whose
the really great
artist.
Because the elements of
what
is
style
and personality make up
called the periodic charadteristics of any
work of
ABOUT PAINTING
68
art,
the " development " of artistic forms must depend on
their separation
knows
from the element of pure

But
neither period nor nationality.
sonality create in every
epoch certain
artistry,
as style
which
and per-
definite forms,
which,
for all their superficial differences, are really closely related,
these forms can be spoken of as one side of art
Every
jediive.
his
own
from the forms which
artist chooses,
time, those
which
sub-
refle6l
are sympathetic to him, and
expresses himself through them.

is
the
So the subjeflive element
the definite and external expression of the inner, objeftive
element.
The
inevitable
element
objeSlive
need."
is
The forms
as it continually
outward expression of the

the impulse here defined as the " inner
desire
it
for
borrows change from day to day, and,
advances, what
is
to-day a phrase of inner
harmony becomes to-morrow one of outer harmony.

clear, therefore, that the inner spirit
It is
of art only uses the
outer form of any particular period as a stepping-stone to

further expression.
In short, the working of the inner need and the develop-
ment of
art is
and objeflive
an ever-advancing expression of the eternal

in
the terms of the periodic and subjedlive.
Because the objective
is
for ever
exchanging the sub-
jeftive expression of to-day for that of to-morrow, each
VI.
new

extension of liberty in the use of outer form
At
and supreme.
as the last
can use any form he wishes, so long
with nature.
is
But
only temporary.
we
present
as
is
69
hailed
say that an artist
he remains
in
touch
this limitation, like all its predecessors,
From
the point of view of the inner
The
need, no limitation must be made.
any form which his expression demands;
artist
may
use
for his inner
impulse must find suitable outward expression.
we
So
" style "
and
not only impossible, but comparatively unim-
is
The
portant.
is
see that a deliberate search for personality
close relationship of art
throughout the ages,
not a relationship in outward form but in inner mean-
ing.
And
therefore the talk of schools, of lines of " de-
velopment,'' of " principles of art," etc.,
is
based on mis-
understanding and can only lead to confusion.
The
artist
must be
blind
to
distinftions
between
" recognized " or " unrecognized " conventions of form,

deaf to the transitory teaching and demands of his particular age.
He
must watch only the trend of the inner
need, and hearken to
its
words alone.
Then he
will
with
employ means both sanctioned and forbidden by

contemporaries. All means are sacred which are
safety
his
called for
by the inner need.
obscure that inner need.
All means are sinful which
ABOUT PAINTING
70
It is
real art
impossible to theorize about this ideal of
In
theory does not precede pra6tice, but follows her.
Everything
scheme
art.
is,
at first, a
matter of feeling.
Any theoretical
will be lacking in the essential of creation
inner desire for expression
the
which cannot be determined.
Neither the quality of the inner need, nor
its
subjeftive
form, can be measured nor weighed.^ Such a
grammar of
painting can only be temporarily guessed
and should
ever be achieved,
it
it
will be not so
at,
much
according to
which
physical rules (which have so often been tried and
to-day the Cubists are trying) as according to the rules of

the inner need,
The
inner need
problems
in
road which
^
The
which
is
are of the soul.
the basis alike of small and great
painting.
is
to
We
lead us
are
seeking to-day for the
away from the outer ^
many-sided genius of Leonardo devised a system of
to the
little
with which different colours were to be used, thus creating a

mechanical harmony.
One
of his pupils, after trying in vain to use this
system, in despair asked one of

the invention.
The
spoons
kind of
his colleagues
colleague replied
how
"The
the master himself used
master never uses
it
at all."
(Mereschowski, " Leonardo da Vinci ").

^ The
term " outer," here used, must not be confused with the term
" material " used previously. I am using the former to mean " outer need,"
VI.

The
inner basis.
spirit, like
the body, can be strengthened
and developed by frequent exercise. Just

neglefted,
grows weaker and
perishes
spirit
finally
And
know the
untended.
if
necessary for the artist to
71
for
as
the body,
if
impotent, so the
this reason it
is
starting point for the
exercise of his spirit.
The
starting point
is
the study of colour and
its eifefts
on men.
There
no need to engage in the
is
plicated colour, but rather at

direfl:
first
finer shades
of com-
to consider only the
use of simple colours.
To
begin
with,
let
us
selves of individual colours,
which
will
the
facilitate
test
the
working on our-
and so make a simple chart,

consideration
of the whole
question.
Two
outset
mind
great divisions of colour occur to the

into
warm
at the
and cold, and into light and dark.
To
each colour there are therefore four shades of appeal

which never goes beyond conventional
conventional beauty.
often produces results
itself is
The
'*
inner
limits,
nor produces other than
need " knows no such
conventionally considered " ugly."
a conventional term, and only
means "
spiritually
limits,
and
But " ugly
unsympathetic,"
being applied to some expression of an inner need, either outgrown or not

yet attained.
is
beautiful.
But everything which adequately expresses the inner need
ABOUT PAINTING
72
warm
and light or
warm
and dark, or cold and light or
cold and dark.
Generally speaking, warmth or cold in a colour means

an approach respeflively to yellow or to blue.
tinftion
is,
so to speak,
on one
basis,
This
dis-
the colour having a
more
The movement
constant fundamental appeal, but assuming either a
material or
more non-material
warm
an horizontal one, the
is
quality.
colours approaching the
spectator, the cold ones retreating
The
which cause
in another colour this hori-
movement, while they
zontal
it,
colours,
from him.
are themselves afFedted
have another movement of their own, which
This
violent separative force.
is,
therefore,
a6ls
the
by
with
first
antithesis in the inner appeal,
and the inclination of the
colour to yellow or to blue,
of tremendous importance.
The
i,e.y
second antithesis
between white and black;
the inclination to light or dark caused by the pair of
colours just mentioned.

their peculiar
a
is
is
more
rigid
movement
form
These colours have once more

to
and from the spedlator, but
(see Fig. i).
Yellow and blue have another movement which

the
first
two
circles are
blue,
antithesis
in
affects
an ex- and concentric movement.
drawn and painted
brief concentration
will
If
respedlively yellow and
reveal
in
the yellow a
FIGURE
(inner appeal ading
First Pair of antitheses.
and B.
the spirit)
Warm
Cold
Yellow
Blue
A.
on
First antithesis
Two movements
horizontal
(i)
Towards
the speculator
<
^ Away from the sped
< >
(spiritual)
(bodily)
Blue
Yellow
(ii)
B.
and
ex-
concentric
Light
Dark
White
Black
= Second
antithesis
Two movements
(i)
discordant
Absolute discord, devoic
Eternal discord, but with
White
possibilities for the
of
Black
future (birth)
(ii)
ex-
possibilities for the
future (death)
and
concentric^ as in case of yellow
more rigid.
and
blue^ but
VI.
spreading
movement
out from the centre, and a notice-
The
able approach to the spectator.
hand, moves in upon
itself,
blue, on the other
like a snail retreating into
its
and draws away from the speftator.^
shell,
In the case of light and dark colours the
That of
emphasized.
admixture of white,
the
/.^.,
as
movement
yellow increases with
becomes
it
lighter.
becomes darker.
be a dark-coloured
white and yellow

blue, for blue
is
an
That
of the blue increases with an admixture of black,

as it
73
{,e,^
This means that there can never

yellow.
is
as
The
as
between
as
to border
close
can be so dark
relationship
Besides this physical relationship,
between
black
on black.
also a spiritual
is
(between yellow and white on one
side,
and
one
between blue
and black on the other) which marks a strong separation
between the two
An
tint
attempt to
is
The
colder produces a green
colour becomes sickly and unreal.
The
blue
movement a6ls as a brake on the yellow, and

hindered in its own movement, till the two together
its
contrary
become
^
make yellow
and checks both the horizontal and excentric move-
ment.
by
pairs.
stationary,
and the
These statements have no
spiritual experience.
result
scientific
basis,
is
green.
Similarly
but are founded purely on
ABOUT PAINTING
74
a mixture of black
and white produces gray, which
is
motionless and spiritually very similar to green.
But while green, yellow, and blue

adlive,
though
possibility
temporarily
paralysed,
of movement, because
colours that have no
acflive
potentially
are
in
gray
no
is
gray consists of two
one
force, for they stand the
in motionless discord, the other in a motionless negation,
even of discord, like an endless wall or a bottomless
pit.
Because the component colours of green are adlive and
have a movement of their own,

basis
it
is
possible, on
the
of this movement, to reckon their spiritual appeal.
The
first
movement of
yellow, that of approach to the
spectator (which can be increased by an intensification of
the yellow), and also the second
movement,
that of over-
spreading the boundaries, have a material parallel in the
human energy which
every obstacle blindly, and
assails
bursts forth aimlessly in every direction.
Yellow,
if steadily
gazed
at in
any geometrical form,
has a disturbing influence, and reveals in the colour an

insistent, aggressive chara6ler.^
The
intensification of the
yellow increases the painful shrillness of

^
It
is
its
worth noting that the sour-tasting lemon and
note.^
shrill-singing canary
are both yellow.

*
Any
parallel
between colour and music can only be
violin can give various shades
of tone,
relative.
so yellow has shades,
Just
as a
which can be
VI.
Yellow
the typically earthly colour.
is
An
have profound meaning.

a sickly colour.
it
It
may
75
can never
It
intermixture of blue makes
be paralleled in
human
nature,
with madness, not with melancholy or hypochondriacal

mania, but rather with violent raving lunacy.
The power
first
in
its
of profound meaning
movements
of turning in upon
physical
spe6lator, (2)
clination of blue to depth
stronger
when
Blue
the typical
is
feeling
black,
is
creates
it
it
its
is
shade
is
is
(i)
its
of retreat from the
own
one of
in each case a pure tone
in-
deeper.
rest.^
echoes a grief that
The
centre.
heavenly colour.^
expressed by various instruments.
assuming
found in blue, and
so strong that its inner appeal
is
When
But
it
The
ultimate
sinks almost to
When
hardly human.^
towards white, a movement
rises
is
in
little
suited to
making such
parallels,
it
it,
its
am
of colour or sound, unvaried by vibration
or dampers, etc.
^
The
and sky-blue
" Histoire de
vol.
^
ii,
p.
halos are golden for emperors and prophets
symbolic
for
I'Art
figures
Supernatural
rest,
lies
As an echo of
rest.
{i.e.
for mortals),
(KondakofF,
beings);
Byzantine consideree principalement dans
les
not the earthly contentment of green.
through the natural.
earthly yellow to the heavenly blue
of
spiritual
miniatures,"
382, Paris, 1886-91).
the supernatural
'
(i.e.
must
And we
The way
to
mortals passing from the
pass through green.
grief violet stands to blue as does green in
its
production
ABOUT PAINTING
76
appeal to
men grows weaker and more
a light blue
is
like a flute, a darker blue a 'cello; a
darker a thunderous double bass

all
In music
distant.
and the darkest blue of
an organ.
A
well balanced mixture of blue and yellow produces
The
green.
horizontal
from and towards the

through the eye
is
movement
centre.
likewise that
ceases;
The
effeft
therefore motionless.
on the soul
This
is
recognized not only by opticians but by the world.

is
still
On
the most restful colour that exists.
a fadt
Green
exhausted
this restfulness has a beneficial effeft, but after a
men
time
it
-becomes wearisome. Piftures painted in shades of green are

passive and tend to be wearisome; this contrasts with the
adlive
warmth of yellow
or the aftive coolness of blue.
the hierarchy of colours green

self-satisfied,
is
immovable, narrow.
summer, the period when nature
the "
It
is
is
the
resting
colour
of
from the
storms of winter and the productive energy of spring

Fig.
In
bourgeoisie "
(cf.
2).
Any preponderance
in
green of yellow or blue introduces
a corresponding
aftivity
The
its
green keeps
ness, the
and changes the inner appeal.
characteristic equanimity and restful-
former increasing with the inclination to light-
ness, the latter
with the inclination to depth.
In music
FIGURE
(physical appeal of
Second Pair of antitheses.
II
and D.
complementary
colours)
Red
= Third
reen
Movement
antithesis
of the spiritually extinguished

First antithesis
Motion within
= Potentiality of motion
= Motionlessness
itself
Red
Ex- and concentric movements
In optical blend
Gray
In mechanical blend of white and black
Gray
Orange
D.
<H
are absent
Arise out of the
= Fourth
Violet
first
antithesis
from
1.
Adlive element of the yellow in red
Orange
2.
Passive element of the blue in red
Violet
Orange
\J
Yellow \^
antithesis
Red
In excentric
Motion within
In concentric
direction
itself
direction
VI.
the absolute green
77
represented by the placid, middle
is
notes of a violin.
Black and white have already been discussed in general

terms.
More
particularly speaking, white, although often
considered as no colour
pressionists,
who saw no
white in nature^),
of a world from which

has disappeared.
harmony
to
theory largely due to the im-
(a
all
souls.
impenetrable wall, shrouds
White, therefore, has
this
symbol
colour as a definite attribute
This world
touch our
is
too far above us for
is
its life
its
great silence, like an
from our understanding.
harmony of silence, which works
us negatively, like
many
pauses in music that break
temporarily the melody.
It is
not a dead silence, but one
upon
pregnant with
possibilities.
nothingness that
is
White has the appeal of the
before birth, of the world in the ice
age.
A
^
totally
Van Gogh,
dead white.
artist
who
is
dead silence, on the other hand, a silence with

in his letters, asks
This question
whether he may not paint a white wall
no
difficulty to
the non-representative
concerned only with the inner harmony of colour.
But
to the
seems a bold liberty to take with nature.
To
him
impressionist-realist
seems
offers
it
it
own change from brown shadows to blue seemed

Van Gogh's question marks a transition from im-
as outrageous as his
to his contemporaries.
pressionism to an art of spiritual harmony, as the coming of the blue shadow

marked a transition from academism to impressionism. (Cf. " The Letters
of Vincent van Gogh." Constable, London, 7^. 6d. net.)
ABOUT PAINTING
78
no
possibilities, has
it is
the inner
harmony oi black. In music
represented by one of those profound and final pauses,
after
which any continuation of the melody seems the
dawn of another world.
Black
like the ashes of a funeral pyre,
The
a corpse.
is
something burnt out,
something motionless
silence of black
Outwardly black
is
is
like
the silence of death.
harmony of all,
which the minutest
the colour with least
kind of neutral background against
shades of other colours stand clearly forward. It differs from
white in
with white nearly every colour
this also, for
discord, or even
Not without
mute
in
altogether.^
reason
is
white taken
as
symbolizing joy
and spotless purity, and black grief and death.

black and white produces gray, which,
silent
is
as
blend of
has been said,
is
and motionless, being composed of two inactive
colours,
its
of green.
restfulness
having none of the potential aftivity
similar gray
is
produced by a mixture of
green and red, a spiritual blend of passivity and glowing
warmth.^
The unbounded warmth

'
E.g. vermilion rings dull
with clear strength.

pure and
'
of red has not the irresponsible
and muddy against white, but against black
Light yellow against white
is
weak, against black
brilliant.
Gray = immobility and
mixture of green and red
(cf.
rest.
Delacroix sought to express
Signac, sup.
cit.).
rest
by a
VI.
79
appeal of yellow, but rings inwardly with a determined
and powerful intensity.

does not distribute
its
The varied powers

use of
it
in
It
glows in
vigour aimlessly
(see Fig. 2).
of red are very striking.
different shades,
its
maturely, and
itself,
warm or cold.^
Light warm red has
its
By
a skilful
fundamental tone
may
be made
a certain similarity to
medium
yellow, alike in texture and appeal, and gives a feeling of

strength, vigour, determination, triumph.
In music,
it is
a sound of trumpets, strong, harsh, and ringing.
Vermilion
glowing
is
is
a red with a feeling
which can be cooled by water.
steel
quenched by blue,
cold colour.
More
produces what
of to-day.
of sharpness, like
is
for
it
can support no mixture with a
accurately speaking, such a mixture
called a dirty colour, scorned
But "
Vermilion
by painters
dirt " as a material obje6t has its
inner appeal, and therefore to avoid
it
in painting,
own
is
as
unjust and narrow as was the cry of yesterday for pure

colour.
At
wardly foul
The two
the call of the inner need, that
may be
Of course
is
out-
inwardly pure, and vice versa.
shades of red just discussed are similar to
yellow, except that they reach out
cold, but
which
less to
the speftator.
every colour can be to some extent varied between warm and

no colour has so extensive a scale of varieties as red.
ABOUT PAINTING
8o
The glow
of red
is
within
itself.
For
this reason
it
is
colour more beloved than yellow, being frequently used
and traditional decoration, and
in primitive
costumes, because in the open
green
is
air
very beautiful. Taken by
the
also in peasant
harmony of red and
itself this red is material,
Only when
and, like yellow, has no very deep appeal.
combined with something nobler does

appeal.
It
it
acquire this deep
dangerous to seek to deepen red by an
is
admixture of black, for black quenches the glow, or

least reduces
at
considerably.
it
But there remains brown, unemotional, disinclined
movement. An intermixture of red
is
for
outwardly barely
audible, but there rings out a powerful inner harmony.

Skilful blending can
produce an inner appeal of extra-
ordinary, indescribable beauty.
The
vermilion
like a great trumpet, or thunders like a
now
rings
drum.
Cool red (madder) like any other fundamentally cold

colour, can be deepened
of azure.
glow
But
The
especially
by an intermixture
charafter of the colour changes
the inward
increases, the aftive element gradually disappears.
this a6live
deep green.
vigour,
moment
element
is
There always remains
somewhere out of
to
never so wholly absent
burst
forth
afresh.
renewed
a hint of
sight, waiting
In this
for
lies
as in
the
certain
great
VI.

between a deepened red and
difference
because in red there

parallel in
8i
deepened blue,
always a trace of the material.
is
music are the
middle tones of a
sad,
'cello.
A
A
cold, light red contains a very distinft bodily or material
element, but
it
is
always pure, like the fresh beauty of
the face of a young
The
girl.
singing notes of a violin
express this exad:ly in music.
Warm
red, intensified
by
a suitable yellow,
is
orange.
This blend brings red almost to the point of spreading

out towards the spedtator. But the element of red
sufficiently strong to
Orange
note
is
is
like a
always
keep the colour from flippancy.
man, convinced of
his
own
powers.
Its
that of the angelus, or of an old violin.
Just as orange
yellow, so violet
But the red
is
is
red brought nearer to humanity by
red withdrawn from humanity by blue.
in violet
must be
does not allow of a mixture of

Violet
sense
is
is
It is
worn by
of mourning.
notes of
warm
need
red with cold blue.
therefore both in the physical and spiritual
a cooled red.
ailing.
cold, for the spiritual
wood
It
old
In music
consequently rather sad and
is
women, and
China
as a
sign
an English horn, or the deep
it is
instruments
in
{e,g.
a bassoon).^
one often hears the question, " How are you ? " answered
gloomily by the words " Feeling very violet."
^
Among
artists
ABOUT PAINTING
82
The two
the
fourth
colours.
mentioned colours (orange and
last
and
They
violet) are
pair of antitheses of the primitive
last
stand to each other in the same relation as
the third antitheses
green and red
/.^.,as
complementary
colours (see Fig. 2).
As
in a great circle, a serpent biting
symbol of
And
to right
silence
and
make up
left
tail (the
six
the three main antitheses.
stand the
death and birth
It is clear that all I
ow^n
something wîthout end) the
eternity, of
colours appear that
its
two great
possibilities
of
(see Fig. 3).
have said of these simple colours
is
very provisional and general, and so also are those feelings
which have been quoted
(joy, grief, etc.)
colours.
For these
soul.
much
finer texture
find
of the
feelings are only the material expressions
of the
fine to
as parallels
Shades of colour, like those of sound, are of a
and awake in the soul emotions too
be expressed in words.
some probable expression
Certainly each tone will
in words, but
it
be incomplete, and that part which the word
will always
fails
to ex-
press will not be unimportant but rather the very kernel
of
its
existence.
For
this reason
words
are,
and will always
FIGURE
The
antitheses as a circle between
III
two
poles,
/.(?.,
the
between birth and death.
(The
capital letters designate the pairs
of antitheses.)
life
of colours
VI.
remain, only hints, mere suggestions of colours.
83
In this
impossibility of expressing colour in words with the con-
sequent need for some other
mode of
expression
opportunity of the art of the future.
lies
among
In this art
innumerable rich and varied combinations there
which
is
founded on firm
fafi:,
and that
is as
the
is
follows.
one
The
adiual expression of colour can be achieved simultaneously
by
several forms of art, each art playing
and producing
whole which exceeds
any expression attainable by one

possibilities
its
separate part,
in richness
art alone.
and force
The immense
of depth and strength to be gained by com-
bination or by discord between the various arts can be

easily realized.
It is often said that the
one
art
admission of the possibility of
helping another amounts to a denial of the neces-
sary differences
the case.
between the
As has been
said,
appeal cannot be achieved by

it
arts.
This
is,
however, not
an absolutely similar inner
two
different arts.
were possible the second version would
Even
if
differ at least out-
wardly. But suppose this were not the case, that
is
to say,
suppose a repetition of the same appeal exaftly alike both
outwardly and inwardly could be achieved by different

arts,
such repetition would not be merely superfluous.
To
begin with, different people find sympathy in different
ABOUT PAINTING
84
forms of
art (alike
on the aftive and passive side among
the creators or the receivers of the appeal)
but further
and more important, repetition of the same appeal thickens

the spiritual atmosphere which
is
necessary for the matur-
way
ing of the finest feelings, in the same

a
greenhouse
is
as the
hot
air
of
necessary for the ripening of certain fruit.
An example of this is the case of the individual who receives

a
powerful impression from constantly repeated aflions,
thoughts or feelings, although
they came singly they
if
We must not, however,
might have passed by unnoticed.^
apply this rule only to the simple examples of the spiritual

atmosphere.
For
this
atmosphere
is
either pure or filled with various alien

visible a6lions,
pression,
which can be
elements. Not only
like air,
thoughts and feelings, with outward ex-
make up
this
atmosphere, but secret happenings
of which no one knows, unspoken thoughts, hidden feelings are also elements in
it.
low and unworthy thoughts,
Suicide, murder, violence,
hate, hostility, egotism, envy,
narrow " patriotism," partisanship, are elements
in the
spiritual atmosphere.^
And
conversely,
self-sacrifice,
This
Epidemics of suicide or of violent wârlike

impure atmosphere.
this
mutual
help,
lofty
idea forms, of course, the fundamental reason for advertisement.

feeling, etc., are products of
VI.
85
thoughts, love, unselfishness, joy in the success of others,
humanity, justness, are the elements which slay those

already enumerated as the sun slays the microbes, and restore the
The
that in
atmosphere to purity.^
second and more complicated form of repetition
which
several different elements
of different forms.
different arts
this
form of repetition
in the
men
combination.
in the art of the future.
is
even more powerful, for the
For one the musical form
is
the most
for another the picSorial, for the
third the literary, and so on.
which
And
respond to the different elements
moving and impressive;

arts
use
In our case these elements are the
summed up
different natures of
make mutual
is
There
reside, therefore, in
are outwardly different, hidden forces equally
different, so that
a single result,
they
may
all
work
even though each
in
art
one
may
man towards
be working in
isolation.
This sharply defined working of individual colours
which various values can be

mony. Pidtures will come to be painted
the basis on
built
up
is
in har-
veritable artistic
arrangements, planned in shades of one colour chosen ac-
cording to
artistic feeling.
The
carrying out of one colour,
the binding together and admixture of

^
These elements
two
related colours,
likewise have their historical periods.
ABOUT PAINTING
86
are the foundations of most coloured harmonies.
From what
has been said above about colour working, from the fa6l
that
we
live in a
we
tradidlion,
time of questioning, experiment and con-
can draw the easy conclusion that for a
harmonization on the
is
especially unsuitable.
mournful sympathy we
It adls as a
Perhaps with envy and with a

listen
welcome pause
and
as a consolation
our age
basis of individual colours
as a
music of Mozart.
to the
in the turmoil of our inner
hope, but
we
hear
life,
the echo
it as
of something from another age long past and fundamentally

strange to us.
we have
lost,
The
strife
tottering
great questions,
of colours, the sense of balance

principles, unexpected assaults,
apparently useless
striving,
storm and
tempest, broken chains, antitheses and contradictions, these
make up our harmony. The

mony
is
composition arisingfrom this har-
a minglifig of colour and form each with
existence^ but each blended into
a common
piBure by the force of the inner need.

parts are vital.
ditions)
a logical
is
Everything
subsidiary.
life
which
separate
is
called
Only these individual
else (such as
The combination
outcome of modern
its
conditions.
surrounding conof two colours
is
The combination
of colours hitherto considered discordant, is merely a further
development.
For example, the
use, side
by
side,
of red
and blue, colours in themselves of no physical relationship,
wmm
-5-S
^-
m
m
1
g^
â
S
^
Q!)
1
i^
* 4
gT
-^
sT
r
.
'^
-^
t.^1i
1.
3
b
VI.
but from their very spiritual contrast of the strongest
87
efFeft,
one of the most frequent occurrences in modern choice
is
Harmony
of harmony.^
ciple of contrast
to-day rests chiefly on the prin-
which has
for
most important principles of
all
art.
time been one of the
But our contrast
is
an
which stands alone and rejefts the help (for

help would mean destruftion) of any other principles
inner contrast
that
of harmony.
note that this very placing
It is interesting to
together of red and blue was so beloved by the primitive
both in Germany and Italy that
it
has
till
to-day survived,
principally in folk pi6lures of religious subjefts.

sees in
such piftures the Virgin in a red
cloak.
It
seems that the
artists
One
gown and
often
a blue
wished to express the grace
of heaven in terms of humanity, and humanity in terms
of heaven.
Legitimate and illegitimate combinations of
colours, contrasts of various colours, the over-painting of
one colour with another, the definition of coloured surfaces
by boundaries of various forms, the overstepping of
these boundaries, the mingling and the sharp separation
of surfaces,
all
these open great vistas of artistic possi-
bility.
One of the
^
he
Cf. Gauguin.
first
first
steps in the turning
Noa noa
where the
away from material
artist states his disinclination
arrived in Tahiti to juxtapose red and blue.
when
ABOUT PAINTING
88
objeds into the realm of the abstradl was, to use the

technical artistic term, the rejection of the third dimension,
that
is
to say, the
attempt to keep a pifture on a single
Modelling was abandoned. In
plane.
made more
objeft was
forward was achieved
had the
way
the material
and an important step
abstract
this
this
however,
step forward has,
of limiting the possibilities of painting to
efFedt
one definite piece of canvas, and
this limitation has not
only introduced a very material element into painting, but

has seriously lessened
Any
its possibilities.
attempt to free painting from this material limita-
tion together with the striving after a
position must concern itself
first
of
made
to bring the pi6lure
on
to
with the destruction
all
of this theory of one single surface
new form of com-
attempts
some
must be
ideal plane
which
shall be expressed in the terms of the material plane of
the canvas.^
flat
There has
arisen out of the composition in
triangles a composition with plastic three dimensional
triangles, that
is
to say
with pyramids
But there has arisen here

concentration
also the
on this form for
and that
tendency to
its
own
is
Cubism.
inertia, to a
sake,
and con-
sequently once more to an impoverishment of possibility.

^
Compare
Le Fauconnier in the catalogue of the second

Neue Kunstlervereinigung, Munich, 1910-11.
the article by
exhibition of the
VI.
But that
is
89
the unavoidable result of the external appli-
cation of an inner principle.
further point of great importance must not be for-
means of using the material
gotten.
There
plane
a space of three dimensions in order to create
as
an ideal plane.
are other
The
thinness or thickness of a line, the
placing of the form on the surface, the overlaying of one
form on another may be quoted
means that may be employed.
as
examples of
artistic
Similar possibilities are
offered by colour which, w^hen rightly used, can advance
or retreat, and can
make of the
pi6ture a living thing, and
so achieve an artistic expansion of space.
The combination
of both means of extension in harmony or concord
of the richest and most powerful

artistic
composition.
is
one
elements in purely
VII.
THEORY
FROM
the nature of
modern harmony,
never has there been a time

cult than
to lay
^
it is
down
it
results that
was more
diffi-
to-day to formulate a complete theory,^ or
a firm artistic basis.
Attempts have been made.
parallel
when
it
All attempts to do so
Once more emphasis must
be laid on the
" Tendances Nouvelles,'* No. 35,
with music. For example, cf.

" The law^s of harmony are the same for painting and music."
Henri Ravel
90
VII.
THEORY
91
would have one result, namely, that already cited in the

case of Leonardo and his system of little spoons. It would,
to say that there are
however, be precipitate
no basic
principles nor firm rules in painting, or that a search for
them leads inevitably to academism. Even music has

grammar, which, although modified from time to time,
a
is
of continual help and value as a kind of di6lionary.
Painting
is
however, in a
diflFerent
from dependence on nature
revolt
Any
is,
realization of the inner
The
so far unconscious.
is
only just beginning.
working of colour and form

subjedlion of composition to
no new idea
some geometrical form
is
Persians). Construction
on a purely abstradl basis
business,
artist
and
must
he can
(cf.
the art of the

is
seemingly blind and aimless.
at first
The
position.
slow
The
train not only his eye but also his soul, so that
test colours for
themselves and not only by external
impressions.
If
we
begin
to nature,
at
once to break the bonds which bind us
and devote ourselves purely to combination of
pure colour and abstradt form,
which
are
or carpets.
aim by
we
mere decoration, which

Beauty of
itself,
shall
produce works
are suited to neckties
Form and Colour
is
no
sufficient
despite the assertions of pure aesthetes or
even of naturalists,
who
are
obsessed with the idea of
ABOUT PAINTING
92
" beauty."
It is
because of the elementary stage reached
by our painting that we

inner
are so
little
able to grasp the
harmony of true colour and form composition. The
nerve vibrations are there, certainly, but they get no further
than the nerves, because the corresponding vibrations of
When we
the spirit which they call forth are too weak.
remember, however, that

ing, that
positive
spiritual experience
science, the
firmest
is
quicken-
of
basis
human
imminent,
thought,
is
we have
reason to hope that the hour of pure composition
is
is
not far away.

It
It
tottering, that dissolution of matter
must not be thought that pure decoration
has
its
inner being, but one
which
is
is lifeless.
either
incom-
prehensible to us, as in the case of old decorative

or
which seems mere
illogical confusion, as a
art,
world
in
which full-grown men and embryos play equal roles, in

which beings deprived of limbs are on a level with noses
and toes which live isolated and of their own vitality.
The confusion is like that of a kaleidoscope, which
though possessing
sphere.
a life of its
own, belongs
Nevertheless, decoration
has
its
to another
effefl:
on us;
oriental decoration quite differently to Swedish, savage,
or ancient Greek.
It
is
not for nothing that there
is
general custom of describing samples of decoration as
THEORY
VII.
gay, serious, sad,
music
etc., as
is
93
described as Allegro,
Serioso, etc., according to the nature of the piece.
Probably conventional decoration had
But when we would
nature.
is
the sole source of
all
art,
its
beginnings in
assert that external nature
we must remember
that, in
patterning, natural objefls are used as symbols, almost as
For
though they were mere hieroglyphics.
we
cannot gauge their inner harmony.
this reason
For instance, we
can bear a design of Chinese dragons in our dining or
bed rooms, and are no more disturbed by
than by a
it
design of daisies.
It
is
possible that towards
dying epoch a new decorative
the close
of our already
but
art will develop,
it is
At the
would be
not likely to be founded on geometrical form.

present time any attempt to define this
a small
as useless as pulling
bud open
new
art
so as to
make
Nowadays we are still bound to exnature and must find our means of expression in her.
fully-blown flower.
ternal
But
how
we go
We
are
we
to
do
it
In other words,
in altering the forms
may go
as far as
emotion, and once more

for true emotion.
of this clearer.
and colours of
the artist
we
see
is
how
far
may
this nature?
able to
how immense
is
carry his
the need
few examples will make the meaning
ABOUT PAINTING
94
A warm
when
it is
something
other
red tone will materially alter in inner value
no longer considered
abstraft, but
an isolated colour,
as
applied as an element of some
is
and combined
objedl,
as
with
natural
The
form.
variety of natural forms will create a variety of spiritual

values,
all
of which will
original isolated red.
harmonize with that of the
Suppose we combine red with sky,
flowers, a garment, a face, a horse, a tree.
red sky suggests to us sunset, or
sequent effedt upon us
Much
depends
now on
are treated in connection
ment
is
the
way
with
in
which other
this red sky.
sky
objefts
If the treat-
same harmonious,
faithful to nature, but all the
however, the other
and has a con-
either of splendour or menace.
the " naturalistic " appeal of the
more
fire,
is
strengthened.
objeflis are treated in a
If,
way which
is
abstraft, they tend to lessen, if not to destroy, the
naturalistic appeal of the sky.
the use of red in a
employed
teristics
to
human
Much
face.
the same applies to
In this case red can be
emphasize the passionate or other characmodel, with a force that only an ex-
of the
tremely abstract treatment of the
rest
of the piflure can
subdue.
red garment
in reality be of
is
quite a different matter; for
any colour.
Red
will,
it
can
however, be found
Kandinsky. Improvisation No. 29 (19 12)
A.J, Eddy
ColleSfion, Chicago,
U.S.A.
THEORY
VII.
95
best to supply the needs of pure artistry, for here alone
can
be used without any association with
it
aims.
The
has to consider not only the value of the
artist
red cloak by
itself,
the figure wearing

figure to the
material
whole
but also
its
value in connexion with
and further the relation of the
it,
Suppose the piflure to be a
pifture.
sad one, and the red-cloaked figure to be the central point
on which the sadness
is
concentrated
central position, or features, attitude, colour, or
The
from
either
what
red will provide an acute discord of feeling,
its
not.
which
gloom of the pidlure. The use of a

sad, would weaken the effedt of the
will emphasize the
colour,
in
dramatic
itself
whole.^
already defined.
This
Red by
the spedtator, and
its
is
the
itself
principle
of
cannot have a sad
antithesis
efiêft
on
inclusion in a sad pi6lure will, if
properly handled, provide the dramatic element.^
Yet again
is
the case of a red tree
mental value of red remains,

association of "
^
Once more
it is
autumn
as
difiêrent.
The
in every case.
" creeps in.
The
funda-
But the
colour combines
wise to emphasize the necessary inadequacy of these
laid down, the variations are so endless. A

whole composition of a picture.
^ The
use of terms like " sad " and "joyful " are only clumsy equivalents
for the delicate spiritual vibrations of the new harmony. They must be
examples.
Rules cannot be
single line can alter the
read as necessarily inadequate.
ABOUT PAINTING
96
with
easily
as in
and there
this association,
no dramatic clash
is
the case of the red cloak.
Finally, the red horse provides a further variation.
very words
put us
in
possibility of a red horse
appeal
appeal
as
a freak
demands an unreal world.
a purely
To
It is
and form will
and non-artistic
superficial
or as a hint of a fairy-story
artistic appeal.
istic
The im-
another atmosphere.
possible that this combination of colour
The
once more
non-
set this red horse in a careful natural-
landscape would create such a discord as to produce
The need
no appeal and no coherence.

the essential of
harmony
for
whether founded
tional discord or concord.
coherence
is
on conven-
The new harmony demands
that the inner value of a piflure should remain unified
whatever the variations or contrasts of outward form or

colour.
The
new
elements of the
art are to
be found,
therefore, in the inner and not the outer qualities of nature.
The
pifture
parts.
spedlator
i,e,y
Our
is
too ready to look for a
some outward connection between
materialistic age has
tator or " connoisseur,"
opposite a pidlure and

^
film.
An
meaning
who
let it
is
produced
its
a type
in a
various
of spec-
not content to put himself
say
its
own
message.
Instead
incomplete fairy story works on the mind as does a cinematograph
THEORY
VII.
97
of allowing the inner value of the pifture to work, he

worries himself in looking for " closeness to nature," or
" temperament," or " handling," or " tonality," or " perspecflive," or
what
not.
His eye does not probe the outer
expression to arrive at the inner meaning.

tion with an interesting person,
we endeavour
We
fundamental ideas and feelings.
his
In a conversato get at
do not bother
about the words he uses, nor the spelling of those words,

nor the breath necessary for speaking them, nor the move-
ments of his tongue and
lips,
nor the psychological work-
ing on our brain, nor the physical sound in our ear, nor
We
the physiological efFe6l on our nerves.
realize that
these things, though interesting and important, are not the
main things of the moment, but that the meaning and

idea
ing
what concerns
is
when
We
should have the same feel-
confronted with a work of
comes general the

natural
us.
artist
When
art.
will be able
form and colour and speak
to
in
this be-
dispense with
purely artistic
language.
To
is
return to the combination of colour and form, there
another
possibility
which should be
appeal, and the

fable.
The
whole pidlure
spe6lator
is
Non-
have a " literary
may
may have
naturalistic objects in a pi6lure
noted.
the working of a
put in an atmosphere which does
ABOUT PAINTING
98
not disturb
which he
less
him because he
tries
accepts
it
the various appeals of colour.
mastery
is
impossible
For the
still.
and in
and undergoes more or
to trace the story
working of colour
as fabulous,
But the pure inner
the outward idea has the
has only exchanged a
speculator
blind reality for a blind dreamland, where the truth of
inner feeling cannot be
We
must
felt.
find, therefore, a
form of expression which
excludes the fable and yet does not restrift the free work-
ing of colour in any way.

colours
effeft
The more
movement, and
is
nor be associated with external objedts.
obvious
but provided
provided
is
the separation from nature, the
it is
it is
of a work of art
be very simple,
not working to any material end, the har-
The most
ample, preparation for lifting a

mysterious and dramatic,
We
may
not diftated by any external motive and
will be pure.
revealed.
more
the inner meaning to be pure and unhampered.
The tendency
mony
forms,
which we borrow from nature must produce no
outward
likely
The
when
exheavy weight becomes
ordinary aftion
its
adtual purpose
stand and gaze fascinated,
till
for
is
not
of a sudden
VII.
THEORY
99
the explanation bursts suddenly upon us.

tion that nothing mysterious can ever
day
happen
this faft in
that
is
view that the new dancing
is
means of giving
to say, the only
probably purely sexual.
see this
of dancing
as
The
element plainly.
a
ceremony
religious
The
owing
as
time
double origin.
is
Its
expression of love and fear, etc.
later
joins
more
The
development
itself to
artistic
the
form
in a state of chaos
external motives
the
are too material and
naive for the abstraft ideas of the future.

for
terms of
the ballet.
ballet at the present
to this
in
In folk-dances
preceding element and the two together take
and emerge
with
is
meaning of motion.
origin of dancing
is
It
being evolved
real inner
still
in our every-
else.
all
time and space the
we
the convic-
that has destroyed the joy of abstrad: thought.
life
Pra6lical considerations have ousted
as,
It is
In the search
modern reformers have

Isadora Duncan has forged a
subtle expression, our
looked to the past for help.
Greek dancing and that of the future.

working on parallel lines to the painters who
link between the
In this she
is
are looking for inspiration
from the primitives.^ In dance
Kandinsky's example of Isadora Duncan
is
not
perhaps
perfedlly
This famous dancer founds her art mainly upon a study of Greek
vases and not necessarily of the primitive period. Her aims are distindtly
chosen.
ABOUT PAINTING
lOO
as in painting this is
as in
we
painting
future.
only a stage of transition.
on the threshold of the
are
The same
must be applied
rules
In dancing
art of the
in both cases.
Conventional beauty must go by the board and the literary

element of " story-telling *' or " anecdote '* must be aban-
doned
as useless.
Both
arts
must learn from music that
every harmony and every discord which springs from the

inner spirit
is
beautiful, but that
it
is
essential that
they
should spring from the inner spirit and from that alone.
The achievement
towards what Kandinsky
of the dance-art of the future will
calls
" conventional beauty," and what
more important, her movements
is
perhaps
are not dictated solely by the
" inner
harmony," but largely by conscious outward imitation of Greek attitudes.

Either Nijinsky's later ballets: " Le Sacre du Printemps," "L'Apr^s-midi
d'un Faune," " Jeux," or the idea aftuating the Jacques Dalcroze system
fall more into line with Kandinsky's artistic fore"
conventional beauty " has been abandoned, to the
cast.
In the first case
dismay of numbers of writers and spectators, and a definite return has been
made to primitive angles and abruptness. In the second case motion and
of Eurhythmies seem to
dance are brought out of the souls of the pupils, truly spontaneous, at the
call
harmony."
of the "inner
Duncan and M. Dalcroze

" symbolist " ideals
book. M. T. H.
in art
S.
is
Indeed a comparison between
Isadora
a comparison between the " naturalist " and
which were outlined
in the introdu6lion to this
,,;,jii^^
fiiv
1
.:i
y'^f*^
.,'X*î^
^^^StU^^j^BKjt
THEORY
VII.
loi
make possible the first ebullition of the

harmony the true stage composition.
The composition for the new theatre
of spiritual
art
will consist of
these three elements
Musical movement
(i)
(2) Piftorial
Physical
(3)
movement
movement
and these three, properly combined, make up the spiritual
movement, which
They
the
is
the
working of the inner harmony.
will be interwoven in
harmony and
discord as are
two chief elements of painting, form and
Skrjabin's
attempt to intensify musical
responding use of colour,

perfefted
is
stage-composition
colour.
tone by cor-
necessarily tentative.
In the
two elements
are in-
the
creased by the third, and endless possibilities of
bination and individual use are opened up.

external can be
combined with the
Schonberg has attempted
internal
in his quartettes.
com-
Further, the
harmony,
It is
as
impossible
here to go further into the developments of this idea.
The
reader must apply the principles of painting already stated

to the
problem of stage-composition, and outline
for
himself the possibilities of the theatre of the future, founded
on the immovable principle of the inner need.
ABOUT PAINTING
102
From what
has been said of the combination of colour
and form, the way
way
lies
to the
new
This
can be traced.
art
On
to-day between two dangers.
the one hand
is
the totally arbitrary application of colour to geometrical
form
pure
On
patterning.
the other hand
form
naturalistic use of colour in bodily
may
Either of these alternatives

aggerated.
Everything
freedomof to-day has
at
is
the
at
once
its
the
more
pure phantasy.
their
in
is
turn be
artist's disposal,
dangers and
ex-
and the
its possibilities.
We
may be present at the conception of a new great

epoch,^ or we may see the opportunity squandered in aimextravagance.
less
That
art is
above nature
principles do not
fall
is
new
no
discovery.^
from heaven, but are logically
indireftly connedled with past and future.
portant to us
how
and
forcibly.
best
But
momentary
the
is
it
can be used.
if
the
artist
On
this question see
my
starting point, I go
on
What
is
if
im-
position of the principle

It
must not be employed
tunes his soul to this note, the
sound will ring in his work of
Reiter (Piper-Verlag, 19 12).
New
itself
The "emancipation
''
"Uber die Formfrage" in the Blaue

Taking the work of Henri Rousseau as a
article
to prove that the
new
naturalism will not only be
equivalent to but even identical with abstraction.

^
Cf.
"De
"Goethe," by Karl Heinemann, 1899,
Proflindis"
also Delacroix,
"My
p.
Diary."
684;
also
Oscar Wilde,
VII.
THEORY
103
of to-day must advance on the lines of the inner need.

is
hampered
thrown
at
present by external form, and as that
aside, there arises as the
construction.
The
duced Cubism,
subjected
to
It
in
is
aim of composition
search for constructive form has pro-
which
natural form
is
often forcibly
geometrical construction, a process which
hamper the abstraCt by the concrete and spoil the

concrete by the abstraCt.
The harmony of the new art demands a more subtle
tends to
construction than this, something that appeals
less to
the
eye and more to the soul. This " concealed construction
may
arise
from an apparently fortuitous
on the canvas.
internal
may be
selection of forms
Their external lack of cohesion
harmony.
'*
is
their
This haphazard arrangement of forms
the future of artistic harmony. Their fundamental
relationship will finally be able to be expressed in mathe-
matical form, but in terms irregular rather than regular.
VIII.
THE work
of
ART AND ARTISTS

art is
and secret way.
Nor
is its
definite
born of the
From him
it
artist in a
mysterious
gains
and being.
life
existence casual and inconsequent, but
and purposeful strength, alike
spiritual life.
It exists
it
has a
in its material
and
and has power to create spiritual
atmosphere; and from this inner standpoint one judges
whether
bad
is
it
it is
good work of art or
means that the form
call forth
^
is
a bad one.
"form"
meaning to
If its
too feeble in
corresponding vibrations of the soul.^ Therefore
So-called " indecent " pictures are either incapable of causing vibrations
which case they
are not art) or they are so capable.
In the
of the soul
(in
latter case
they are not to be spurned absolutely, even though at the same
time they gratify what nowadays
we
bodily tastes."
104
are pleased
to
call
the
" lower
ART AND ARTISTS
VIII.
a piflure
105
not necessarily " well painted " if
is
it
possesses
the " values " of which the French so constantly speak.

is
only well painted

"
satisfying.
if its spiritual
Good drawing "
is
value
is
It
complete and
drawing that cannot be
altered without destruftion of this inner value, quite irre-
spective of
its
correctness as anatomy, botany, or any other
There
science.
is
no question of
a violation of natural
form, but only of the need of the
artist for
such form.
Similarly colours are used not because they are true to

nature, but because they are necessary to the particular
In
picture.
it is
his
faCt,
the
artist is
not only justified in using, but
duty to use only those forms which
own
Absolute freedom, whether from anatomy or any-
need.
thing of the kind, must be given the

material.
it is
fulfil his
Such
spiritual
freedom
is
artist in his
choice of
as necessary in art as
in life.^
Note, however, that blind following of scientific precept

is less
blameworthy than
its
blind and purposeless rejection.
The former produces at least an imitation of material objeCts

which may be of some use.^ The latter is an artistic be^
This freedom
is
man's weapon against the
Philistines.
It is based
on
the inner need.

^
Plainly,
an imitation of nature,
a pure reprodu6lion.
The
if
made by the hand of an
artist, is
voice of the soul will in some degree at least
not
make
ABOUT PAINTING
io6
trayal
and brings confusion
The former
in its train.
the spiritual atmosphere empty; the latter poisons
Painting
an
is
art,
and
art
transitory and isolated, but a

to the
is
leaves
it.
not vague production,
power which must be
direfted
improvement and refinement of the human
soul
the raising of the spiritual triangle.
to, in faft,
If art refrains from doing this work, a
chasm remains
unbridged, for no other power can take the place of art in

this activity.
And at times when
grow
greater strength, art will also
Conversely, at those times
other.
be choked by material
is
talk
is
human
power,
in
when
disbelief, art
heard that art exists for
The
apart,
till
regards
art's
itself heard.
As
as
contrasts one
This cry "art
attain to.
It
is
whose
a juggler
may quote
sadly famous heads by Denner.

^
artist
gaining
for the
two
to the
the soul tends to
Then
sake alone.^
as it
were, drugged
and the spe6lator
finally the latter turns his
him
is
becomes purposeless
the bond between art and the soul,
into unconsciousness.
soul
complementary one
are inextricably connected and
and
the
drift
back on the former or
skill
and dexterity are
a landscape of Canaletto
and those
(Alte Pinakothek, Munich.)
for art's sake,"
is
really the best ideal
such an age can
an unconscious protest against materialism, against the demand
that everything should have a use
of the indestru6libility of art

killed but only temporarily
and
pradlical value.
and of the
smothered.
human
soul,
It
is
further proof
which can never be
C3
CO
fe
1^
VIII.
ART AND ARTISTS
worthy of applause.
gauge
It is
very important for the
his position aright, to realize that
and to himself, that he
his art
is
own
soul,
artist to
he has a duty
to
not king of the castle but
rather a servant of a nobler purpose.

into his
107
develop and tend
He must search deeply

so that his art has
it,
something to clothe, and does not remain a glove without

a hand.
The artist must have something
to
say^for mastery over form
not his goal but rather the adapting of form to its inner
is
meaning}
The
artist is
live idle;
not born to a
life
of pleasure.
He
must not
he has a hard work to perform, and one which
often proves a cross to be borne.
He must
realize that his
every deed, feeling, and thought are raw but sure material
from which
not in
work
is
to arise, that
he
is
free in art but
life.
The
*
his
artist
Naturally
work some
has a triple responsibility to the non-artists
this does
not
mean that the artist is to instill forcibly into his

As has been said the generation of a work
deliberate meaning.
no need of theory or
logic to dire6t the painter's aftion. The inner voice of the soul tells him
what form he needs, whether inside or outside nature. Every artist knows,
who works with feeling, how suddenly the right form flashes upon him.
of art
is
a mystery.
So long
as artistry exists there
is
Bocklin said that a true work of art must be like an inspiration

painting, composition, etc., are not the steps by
self-expression.
which the
that a<5bual
artist reaches
ABOUT PAINTING
io8
(i)
He
must repay the

and thoughts,
feelings,
as
which he has;
(2) his deeds,
those of every man, create a
atmosphere which
spiritual
(3)
talent
is
either pure or poisonous.
These deeds and thoughts are materials
tions,
which themselves
atmosphere.
says,
The
artist
for his crea-
exercise influence on the spiritual

is
not only a king, as Peladan
because he has great power, but also because he has
great duties.
If the
beauty
is
artist
to
be
priest
of beauty,
nevertheless
this
be sought only according to the principle of
the inner need, and can be measured only according to

the size and intensity of that need.
'That
is
beautiful which
which springs from
artists
produced by the inner need^
the soul,
Maeterlinck, one of the
modern
is
first
of the soul, says
warriors, one of the

:
" There
is
first
nothing on
earth so curious for beauty or so absorbent of it, as a soul.
For that reason few mortal
souls withstand the leadership
of a soul which gives to them beauty."^
And
this property of the soul
is
the
oil,
which
tates the slow, scarcely visible but irresistible
of the triangle, onwards and upwards.

^
"
De
la
beaut6 int6rieure."
facili-
movement
CONCLUSION
THE
first
five
photographs in
this
book show the
course of construftive efibrt in painting. This effbrt

falls
into
(i)
two
Simple composition, which
to an obvious
I call
divisions
and simple form.
is
regulated according
This kind of composition
the melodic.
Complex composition, consisting of various forms,

subjected more or less completely to a principle form.
(2)
Probably the principle form
may be hard
to grasp out-
wardly, and for that reason possessed of a strong inner

value.
This kind of composition
Between the two
lie
various
I call
the symphonic.
transitional
forms,
in
which the melodic principle predominates. The history

of the development
If,
is
closely parallel to that of music.
in considering an
example of melodic composition,
one forgets the material aspedl and probes down into

the
artistic
reason
of the
whole,
109
one
finds
primitive
ABOUT PAINTING
no
geometrical forms
or
which help toward

motion
by
arrangement of simple
an
common
motion.
This
common
may
be varied
echoed by various sedlions and
is
Such
a single line or form.
isolated variations serve
For instance, they may
different purposes.
lines
aft
as
sudden check, or to use a musical term, a " fermata.''
Each form which goes
to
make up
simple inner value, which has in

this reason I call the
the composition has a
its
For
turn a melody.
this
kind of composition
and earned the name of " rhythmic."
life,
composition melodic. By the agency
of Cezanne and later of Hodler
won new
The
limitations of the term " rhythmic " are obvious. In music
and nature each manifestation has a rhythm of

also in painting.
In nature this
to us, because
its
purpose
speak of
unrhythmic.
it
as
is
rhythm
not clear to
and discord, which have no aftual

E.g.y the
Ravenna mosaic, which,
own, so
often not clear

us.
We
then
So the terms rhythmic and
unrhythmic are purely conventional,
is
its
in the
as also
are
harmony
existence.^
main, forms a triangle.
upright figures lean proportionately to the triangle.
The
outstretched
The
arm
and door-curtain are the " fermate."

^
English readers
may
purposes of the argument.

^
roughly parallel Hodler with Augustus John for
M. T. H.
S.
As an example of plain melodic construction with a plain rhythm,
Cezanne's " Bathing
Women "
is
given in this book.
CONCLUSION
III
Complex rhythmic composition, with a strong flavour

of the symphonic, is seen in numerous pictures and woodcuts of the past. One might mention the work of old
German masters, of the Persians, of the Japanese, the
Russian icons, broadsides,
In nearly
all
these
etc.^
works the symphonic composition
not very closely allied to the melodic.
fundamentally there
The mind
balance.
is
is
This means that
a composition founded
on
rest
and
thinks at once of choral compositions,
of Mozart and Beethoven. All these works have the solemn
and regular architedlure of a Gothic cathedral
they
belong to the transition period.
As examples of the new symphonic composition, in

which the melodic element plays a subordinate part, and
that only rarely,
my own
They
(i)
have added reproduftions of four of
pidtures.
represent three different sources of inspiration
in purely artistic form.

(2)
outward nature, expressed

This I call an " Impression.'*
dired: impression of
largely unconscious, spontaneous expression of
inner character, the non-material nature.
This
call
an
" Improvisation."
(3)
An
expression of a slowly formed inner feeling,

^
This
applies to
many of
Hodler's piftures.
ABOUT PAINTING
112
which comes
This
utterance
to
call a " Composition."
long
maturing.
this, reason,
conscious-
only after
In
play an overwhelming part.
ness, purpose,
calculation nothing
appears,
But of the
only the feeling.
Which
kind of construflion, whether conscious or unconscious,

really underlies
my
work, the patient reader will readily
understand.
Finally,
would remark
that, in
my opinion, we are fast
approaching the time of reasoned and conscious composition,
when
the painter will be proud to declare his
constructive.
work
This will be in contrast to the claim of the
Impressionists that they could explain nothing, that their

art
came upon them by
the
age of conscious
painting
is
inspiration.
We
creation, and this
going hand in hand with the
have before us
new
spirit
spirit
of thought
towards an epoch of great spiritual leaders.
CHISWICK PRESS PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND

TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
:
in
CO.
mm

Art of Spiritual Harmony 00 Kandinsky

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From the papers

Digitized by the Internet Archive

2007 with funding from

THE ART OF SPIRITUAL

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CQ

TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY

ABOUT GENERAL AESTHETIC

Form and Colour

The Psychological Working

LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

Victor and Heinrich Dunwegge

the Alte Pinakothek,

Albrecht Durer: "The Descent from the

the Alte Pinakothek,

Raphael: "The Canigiani Holy Family"

" (by per-

Impression No. 4, "Moscow" (191

Improvisation No. 29 (19 12)

Composition No. 2 (19 10)

"Kleine Freuden" (191 3)

mission of Messrs. Bernheim-Jeune, Paris)

with any clearness and moderation.

will say that any such capacity

a flaw in the perfedt artist,

find his expression in line

the multitude to grope

and colour, and leave

any talent to the would-be

were more important than

every one except

oneself was bourgeois.

few years have in some measure removed

absurdity, by destroying the old convention that

middle-class to be sane, and that between the artist and the

outer-world yawned a gulf which few could cross.

beginning to realize their social duties.

the spiritual teachers of the world, and for their teaching

must be comprehensible. Any attempt,

therefore, to bring artist and public into sympathy, to en-

able the latter to understand the ideals of the former, should

be thoroughly welcome; and such an attempt

one of the leaders of the

Munich. The group of which he

includes painters, poets, musicians, dramatists, critics,

nature and humanity,

the expression of the

Perhaps the fault of

to give cause for attack

tendency to verbosity. Philosophy, especially in the hands

vague and grandiloquent language.

Partly for this

have not primarily

attempted to deal with the philosophical basis of Kandinsky 's

Some, probably, will

chief interest, but better service will be

to the author's ideas

judgement than by even the most expert criticism.

been that those new ideas are

experience has always

once most challenging

and most stimulating which come direft from their author,

task undertaken in this Introdu6tion