1916
oil on canvas
51,5 х 49,5

During the course of his entire career in art, Kandinsky created both abstract and figurative works. He never called upon artists to abandon nature. On the contrary, he believed that only nature can give the necessary impulses for creativity, though there is no sense in just copying it. Depending on the task at hand, the master turned to abstract or figurative forms, or combined them in a complex solution. Moscow. Red Square is a unique urban landscape which is far-removed from the task of conveying the look of the square. Kandinsky is creating an image of the centre of Moscow, one of his favourite cities. Using partly Futuristic methods of conveying the movement of forms, he literally is turning around as he finds himself in the midst of the square and is pointing out its main monuments. The artist wrote that he especially loved the time when the sun is setting and “melds all of Moscow into one bit which sounds like a tuba, shaking one’s whole soul with a strong arm.” This hour of sunset is “the final chord of a symphony which develops in every tone a high life that forces all of Moscow to resound like the fortissimo of a huge orchestra.”