OREANDA-NEWS. November 21, 2011. The Pushkin Museum and Gazprom present the exhibition of canvases by Wassily Kandinsky, Russian artist, one of the founders of abstract art, and painters from The Blue Rider group established with his assistance. Every painting being exhibited belongs to the collection of the Lenbachhaus Gallery in Munich. The Kandinsky and Der Blaue Reiter exhibition will be on display at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts until January 15, 2012.

This is the first exhibition so fully presenting the paintings by The Blue Rider – 60 works including 30 canvases by Wassily Kandinsky produced between 1902 and 1911, as well as symbolist paintings by Franz von Stuck and Franz von Lenbach. The Blue Rider painters tried to develop new forms of art, they featured the abstract language of forms and color. The group founders were seeking for the equilibrium between “the great abstraction” and “the great realism”.
Wassily Kandinsky painted his works in Germany. In 1914, when World War I started, the artist had to return to Russia. He left his canvases with the painter Gabriele Munter who later presented them to the Lenbachhaus Gallery.

Background

Gazprom annually supports a multitude of public projects aimed at the culture development, it acts as a sponsor of exhibitions and concerts. Thus, in 2010 with the assistance of Gazprom, the Masterpieces amid Masterpieces concert series took place in the Tretyakov State Gallery, the Holy Russia exhibition of Russian arts was held in the Louvre, Concerts at the Small Hall of Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory were arranged.