Kleine Welten (Small Worlds), plate 4,

1922

Kandinsky’s Small Worlds portfolio exemplifies the elements of his period of geometric abstraction (forming compositions from sharply defined geometric forms) and demonstrates his interest in color harmonies as well as his skill as a printmaker. The artist was a pioneer of abstract art, equally influential due to his lectures and writings on the subject as to his artistic work. He believed that total abstraction offers the possibility for profound spiritual expression and sought to align certain shapes and colors with abstract properties such as joy, aggression, and romanticism—as one might do with the elements of music. Kandinsky’s influence was extended by his role as a teacher of advanced theory and painting workshops at the Bauhaus, a school for modern art and architecture in Germany, where he was a defining force from his arrival in 1922 (the year he made his Small Worlds series) to the dissolution of the school under pressure from the Nazis in July 1933.