Untitled

Filled with shifting forms and colors that push forward and recede, this watercolor appears completely abstract at first glance. But deeper examination reveals references to landscape, including a hilltop town illuminated by a deep red sun at upper left.

Forced by World War I to leave Germany, where he had lived since 1898, Vasily Kandinsky returned to Moscow in 1914. Restricted by limited space and financial resources, he concentrated on small-scale works primarily in watercolor, of which Untitled is a particularly fine example. It epitomizes the artist’s balance between representation and non-representation in this period.