The Cow by Wassily Kandinsky

A lady kneels down to milk a beautiful cow with yellow pigments in the dominant element of this painting by Wassily Kandinsky. It is dated at 1910, at which point he was focusing most on landscape art.

Behind the two main figures is a bright landscape with colourful turrets dotted across the centre of the painting. Behind those are green rolling hills, albeit delivered in abstract forms. A blue stripe then strikes across the work just below that. The land around the cow and farmer is similarly yellow, leaving behind a palette that is as unrealistic as it is vibrant. To the right hand side we find many more cows going about their business, no doubt enjoying this stunning location in which they are allowed to wander freely. He loved to concentrate on these types of settings during this period of around 3-4 years and released a large number of similar artworks where the beautiful countryside was reduced down to just a few bright abstract shapes. Some of the public consider this to be their favourite period of his career and regularly order prints of paintings such as The Cow for their own homes.

It was just one year later, in 1911, that Franz Marc would decide to produce Yellow Cow. Surely, this cannot have been a complete coincidence, particularly when you compare the two compositions, both of which place the cow dominantly within the near foreground. Marc and Kandinsky were well known to each other and shared similar ambitions over the future direction of mainstream art, as well as a general rejection of what had occurred in previous centuries. Their approach to modern art was different, but the reasons for their approach were undoubtably similar and the two would ultimately give each other new ideas and an enthusiasm to continue their own respective paths of development.

We could not locate this painting at the time of writing but most of his lesser known pieces are to be found within the city of Munich, so that would be the most likely answer. Some were gifted to local galleries by Gabriele Munter and though at the time they may not have been considered significant elements to his career, they have proved to be particularly popular in recent times. There is now also an incredible value attached to any original Kandinsky painting and so Munter's generosity now appears even more of a kind act in today's market. She was very well known to Kandinsky, particularly around the time that he produced The Cow.