Rare 1926 Film Shows Wassily Kandinsky Creating Abstract Art at Bauhaus

A rare 1926 film captures Wassily Kandinsky painting an abstract composition at Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf in Berlin. The footage, shot by pioneering art documentarian Hans Cürlis, shows the Russian artist turning a blank canvas into a geometric work. That same year, Kandinsky published his second major treatise, On Point and Line to Plane, while teaching at the Bauhaus. In the film, his use of contrasting straight lines and curves reflects his shift toward a more conscious, geometric approach. Despite this analytic turn, Kandinsky maintained a mystical view of art, writing that the work of art mirrors itself on the surface of consciousness and invites active participation.