Okhtyrka, autumn

Wassily Kandinsky rendered this Okhtyrka, Autumn in 1901, an oil on canvas from his early Post-Impressionist period. The work depicts a meadow scene from Okhtyrka, a town in what is now Ukraine. Kandinsky had not yet developed the abstract style that would make him famous. Objects remain recognizable, rendered with loose brushwork that captures autumn light.

This painting comes from an important transitional period. The works of those years were "basically landscapes, based on color discords." The play of color spots and lines was gradually replacing images of reality. Okhtyrka, Autumn stands alongside other transitional works like Sluice (1901), Old Town (1902), and Blue Rider (1903).

In 1901, Kandinsky also founded Phalanx, an art group in Munich, and started teaching. His movement toward abstraction would accelerate over the next decade. The painting hangs at the Lenbachhaus in Munich, which holds the world's largest collection of Kandinsky's work.