Founder of the Der Blaue Reiter group and Die Phalanx. He was active in the Wchutiemas and the Bauhaus. He grounded his thinking about art in metaphysical speculation; he believed that art had a metaphysical function, that a work of art was a gateway to transcendence. He articulated these views in his treatise "On Spirituality in Art." He was interested in the synthesis of the arts.
If one were to pick out the greatest practicing art theorist, it would certainly be the Russian painter, Wassily Kandinsky. He associated the beginnings of his career with the art group he founded, Der Blaue Reiter (German for the Blue Rider, which was often the subject of its members' works), which brought together Munich-based representatives of Expressionism. Over time, Kandinsky reduced his paintings to an ever-increasing synthesis of composition and color, while working on theoretical issues of the visual arts, particularly composition. "Legend" has it that on one occasion Wassily did not recognize his upside-down hanging painting. However, he was enthralled by the thoughtful composition of the work, which was not disturbed by its non-figurative nature - when he realized that he was looking at his own painting, he realized that a good painting, does not have to represent anything at all. Thanks to this incident, the "First Abstract Watercolor" was created in a short time, a work that was to revolutionize the approach to art at the time. (www.vivalarte.eu)