Father of abstraction in western art, Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944) painted this Réciproque (1935) in Paris, where he relocated in 1933 after the dissolution of Bauhaus: not a style, but a school in three German locations founded at the end of WWI. Other prominent members were artist Paul Klee (1879– 1940) as well as Starchitect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969).

In Bern, visit the world’s epicentre of art by Klee, housed inside an undulating structure by Starchitect Renzo Piano: zpk.org

Coincidentally, Kandinsky’s second wife and widow, Nina (1899–1980) was not only a longtime Gstaad resident, but murdered in her chalet by someone she knew personally. She lived above the Palace in what was known as the chic Alpina Hill. Executor of his estate, she sold his works with abandon, buying instead jewels exclusively from Harry Winston at the Palace where she’d store her purchases. Roche pharmaceutical heir, Luc Hoffmann (1923– 2016) ornithologist, conservationist, and philanthropist bought her chalet which his descendants still own.

ALAN NAZAR IPEKIAN

Continuing to 25 January 2024, Gagosian’s group exhibition, Abstract Explorations: 100 Years on Paper, features this gouache by Kandinsky along with other works on paper by Modern and Contemporary masters from the 1920s to the present.

Gagosian
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