This artwork is protected by copyright. We cannot display images of works by artists who passed away after 1954.
See the original at National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
by Wassily Kandinsky, 1913
Working in oil on canvas, Wassily Kandinsky painted this explosive canvas in 1913, during his crucial transition toward pure abstraction. The title hints at naval warfare, and traces of boats, oars, and cannons can be detected in the swirling forms. But Kandinsky was moving beyond representation.
Kandinsky believed colors and forms could express spiritual truths directly, without depicting objects. He called works like this "Improvisations" because they emerged spontaneously from inner necessity, like musical improvisation. The diagonal slash of black, the bursts of red and yellow, the cool blue passages all work as pure visual energy.
This painting represents a key moment in art history: the emergence of abstract art as a conscious movement. It hangs in the National Gallery of Art East Building.
![Gian Federico Madruzzo Oil Canvas Giovanni Battista[1] by Giovanni Battista Moroni](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Giovanni_Battista_Moroni%2C_Gian_Federico_Madruzzo%2C_c._1560%2C_NGA_46051.jpg)
Giovanni Battista Moroni
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Edgar Degas
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Bronzino
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Berthe Morisot
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Other masterpieces from the Expressionism movement

Edvard Munch, 1886
National Gallery of Norway, Oslo

Edvard Munch, 1894
Munch Museum, Oslo

Edvard Munch, 1893
National Gallery of Norway, Oslo

Edvard Munch, 1894
Munch Museum, Oslo

Pablo Picasso, 1937
Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid

Franz Marc, 1911
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis

Franz Marc, 1913
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Amedeo Modigliani, 1917
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Luxury wall art with the same mood and energy. Gallery-quality canvas, no museum crowds.
Browse Collection