Autumn Landscape with Boats by Wassily Kandinsky

This artwork, titled Autumn Landscape with Boats, was completed in 1908 and measures 651 by 478 centimetres. It was painted on a canvas using oil paint; a common ingredient at the time, owing to its durability.

The painting was finished during Kandinsky's metamorphosis, a period that defines his brand as an art theorist and a painter. This period influenced the art’s contrast and colourfulness. The picture shows a river and a boat in the foreground, and trees, boats and port houses in the mid background. This caption depicts a river belt habitation with a touch of frosty environment, which is the characteristic of the autumn season. The background hills and clouds have a deep contrast to solidify the season. The vegetations are painted lightly, as opposed to their block colours, to compound the effects of the frostiness.

The painting is an eye-opener to any environment with a water body environment; the economic activity, the mode of housing and the resultant weather owing to the nearby physical features. The boats represent both mobility and economic activity, the houses show dwelling places while the mountains and clouds give a clear picture of the seasons.

Wassily Kandinsky is the father of Abstract Art; a form of painting that uses visual images and other colouring components to create an artistic piece. Born and raised through art school, the young Kandinsky gave meaning to drawing and anatomy. His experiences engineered the formation of various art centres in Munich (Germany), his native Russia and later on France.

His influences included the Richard Wagner and Madame Blavasky due to their artistic nature of doing things. Later on, he did some painting with his partner cum lover Gabriele Munter, Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlominck and Andre Derain, especially during the transition into abstract art.

There is no recorded information on the commercial trail of Kandinsky’s works of art. Most of them are brought by private individuals. This is occasioned by his movements from city to city throughout Europe from 1908 to 1909, the moment when the painting was done. Some of the works done during this era include the Rotterdam Sun (1906), Marnau, Dorfstrasse (1908), Houses in Munich (1908), Marnau, Train and Castle (1909) and The Cow (1910).