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by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 14, 2023
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Swinging (Schaukeln) by Wassily Kandinsky: Introduction
Circles, triangles, bars and arcs appear to rock around a loose vertical spine in Wassily Kandinsky's Swinging. Its original German title is Schaukeln, a word for swinging or rocking, and Tate uses the title to draw attention to the painting's sense of movement. Made in 1925, it is oil paint on board, a tall support measuring 70.5 × 50.2 cm. Tate acquired it in 1979 and catalogues it as T02344. The picture's geometry is precise in places, but its rhythm is anything but static. [1]; [3]; [2].
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Watch on YouTubeAt a Glance
- Artist and title:Wassily Kandinsky, Swinging (Schaukeln).
- Date:1925.
- Medium:Oil paint on board.
- Support size:70.5 × 50.2 cm, height × width, according to Tate's object information reproduced in an exhibition presentation.
- Collection:Tate, inventory T02344, purchased 1979.
- Composition:An upright field of discs, sharp angles, colour grids and sweeping curves held between pale space and darker blocks.
- Subject:Non-representational movement; the title describes an effect rather than naming a depicted swing apparatus.
Where this work sits in Kandinsky’s career
The Blue Rider
1903Composition VII
1913Composition VIII
1923Several Circles
1926Sky Blue
1940Contents
- How the painting makes movement
- Colour and the room around the shapes
- A tall board, not a square diagram
- Listening with the eye
- Frequently asked questions
- References
How the painting makes movement
The most obvious motion occurs in the long curves that cross the lower right. Pale blue and black arcs seem to roll outward, while a pointed yellow form near the top tilts toward the centre. A black disc and orange disc hover high in the painting like opposing weights. Several thin horizontal bars cut through these movements. The eye is asked to change direction repeatedly: follow a curve, stop at a dark block, then jump to a circle or grid. Tate's display text treats the title as a cue for dynamic movement. The image makes that effect visible without depicting a person on a playground swing. [2]; [3].
At the left edge, wavy vertical yellow lines run beside a dark strip. They make a contrasting rhythm to the straight black lines lower down. Near the middle, a yellow triangle or angled frame encloses a small pale passage and meets a black structure beneath it. Its apparent lean creates instability, as though the shape could pivot. The surrounding circles do not restore perfect balance; their different colours and sizes keep the eye moving between parts of the board. These are visual observations from the work, not an iconographic list supplied by Tate. [1]; [3].
The lower left is packed with small coloured squares in a grid. It feels heavy compared with the pale, relatively open top. Kandinsky sets black, blue, yellow, red and cream next to one another in a mosaic of short steps. Along its side, a darker vertical mass and fragments of red and pink seem to shift upward. The grid could have made the painting rigid, but the nearby angled and curved shapes unsettle it. A small formal unit becomes a counterweight to larger moving forms. [3].
At the right, orange and green circles offer more concentrated colour. Three red horizontal bars near the top right seem almost like marks on a score, but the image does not ask us to identify notes or a particular melody. Below them, long arcs bend back toward the central cluster. Kandinsky can suggest swinging by alternating a held shape with a curved path. The painting is therefore rhythmic in the literal sense of repeated directions and intervals, without becoming an illustration of sound. [2]; [3].
Colour and the room around the shapes
The board's pale ground matters as much as its geometry. It gives the discs room to float and allows fine lines to register clearly. Some areas are softly shaded rather than hard-edged, so a black circle can feel suspended while a yellow angle seems to press forward. The picture is not a flat chart of isolated coloured tokens. Its changing density creates depth and pressure across an apparently open field. [3].
The 1925 date places Swinging in Kandinsky's Bauhaus years. Tate's description connects his abstraction with an ambition to free painting from direct references to the material world. It notes the importance of colour in that aim. These ideas can clarify why a circle, triangle and arc may be enough to carry a painting. They do not imply that every shape has one fixed emotional value for every viewer. The title invites a bodily sense of swaying, while the arrangement leaves people free to experience its pace differently. [4]; [2].
The surface combines clear graphic divisions with softer transitions. The black lines at the bottom and right feel firm; the pale pink, green and blue areas vary in tone. Those differences help the composition avoid a mechanical look. A curve can end against a straight bar; a circle can sit near a colour field with a softer edge. Such contrasts are the painting's means of animation. If one part appears to tilt or swing, another holds it in temporary check. [3].
A tall board, not a square diagram
The object is 70.5 cm high and 50.2 cm wide. The order of these measurements matters. Some later summaries reverse them or round them to a landscape proportion, yet the reproduced image is plainly upright and Tate's support measurements are 705 × 502 mm. The board is also the support named in Tate's information, rather than canvas. Recording its orientation and material prevents a reader from imagining a wide horizontal picture or a different physical surface. [5]; [3].
The portrait format strengthens the sense of a vertical stack under pressure. A black disc high above the grid seems to hang; the lower curves and bars reach toward opposite sides. A wider format would change their relation. As it stands, the composition offers a route up and down as well as across. The title's implied swing can therefore be felt in several directions. The painting does not literally pivot, but its shapes ask the eye to do so. [3].
The German title Schaukeln is often translated Swinging. “Rocking” can convey a similar back-and-forth movement, but Tate's chosen English title is the one attached to T02344. That number is a useful anchor when works with similarly rhythmic titles circulate online. It identifies the specific board acquired by Tate in 1979. [2]; [3].
Listening with the eye
ACMI, in presenting Tate's work, explains that Kandinsky wanted viewers to participate in abstract painting in a way comparable to listening to music. It highlights movement and colour as essential to this experience. For Swinging, this means that the viewer need not discover an object hidden behind the forms. The work can be followed as changes of pace: a slow broad curve, a sudden pointed angle, a compact beat of small squares, a pause of pale ground. This is an interpretation of how the image feels, grounded in its visible structure and the museums' accounts of Kandinsky's aims. [3]; [4].
The comparison with music should not be over-literal either. Tate does not identify a specific composition being translated into colours. The title signals motion, and the abstract arrangement sustains it. The orange disc near the right, black disc above, angled yellow frame and low colour grid each have a role in the eye's journey. They form a dynamic whole without turning into actors in a scene. [2]; [3].
The stable facts are simple: Kandinsky painted a tall oil-on-board work in 1925, Tate purchased it in 1979, and its inventory is T02344. The harder question is what a still picture can do with motion. Swinging answers through its shifting visual weights. Every clear shape changes when viewed next to another: a straight line becomes a stop, a curve a path, a circle a point of suspension. Its sense of movement arises between those relations. [1]; [3].
Kandinsky artworks directory
Frequently Asked Questions
It is oil paint on board, according to Tate's object information. [2].
The support measures 705 × 502 mm: 70.5 cm high and 50.2 cm wide. It is a portrait work. [3].
It belongs to Tate, inventory T02344. Tate purchased it in 1979. It may be lent or rehung, so check a current display listing before visiting. [1]; [3].
Tate reads the title as describing the painting's dynamic movement. The composition uses abstract circles, lines, triangles and arcs rather than a clearly represented piece of playground equipment. [2].
The alternation of curves, bars, circles and a compact colour grid can be experienced as a visual rhythm. ACMI explains that Kandinsky sought an abstract experience comparable to listening to music; it does not assign this work a specific tune. [3].
Discussion
What do you notice first in Swinging (Schaukeln)? Share a close observation or a question about the evidence for this work.
Comments are for comparing what we see and what the cited sources establish.
Reader Insights
Which shapes seem to swing, and which seem to hold still?
How do the grid and long curves change the rhythm?
How does the portrait format shape the movement?
Join the Conversation
Add your observation below and tell us which part of the artwork led you to it.
References
- Tate, Swinging, T02344. View source.
- Tate public display text identifying title, date, medium and movement. View source.
- ACMI presentation of the Tate loan, with dimensions, acquisition and interpretation. View source.
- Tate Shop description of Swinging and Kandinsky's abstract aims. View source.
- Tate object metadata reproduced with gallery label. View source.
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