Old town II

Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky painted this Old Town II in 1902, capturing his impressions of Rothenburg, a medieval museum city in Bavaria. He first visited Rothenburg in 1901, drawn to its preserved historic architecture and winding streets. The painting represents his early approach to landscape before he developed his famous abstract style.

Kandinsky created this work shortly after abandoning a career in law to study art in Munich. He recalled seeing Monet's haystack paintings in 1897 and being so moved that he changed his life's direction. In his autobiographical notes, Kandinsky mentioned that only one picture remained from his Rothenburg trip, painted upon returning to Munich. Old photographs suggest there were two versions, though the location of the other remains unknown.

The painting shows Kandinsky's early interest in color and atmosphere, influenced by Post-Impressionism and the Signac-inspired studies he produced between 1900 and 1906. By 1909, when he moved to the Bavarian village of Murnau with Gabriele Münter, his work would turn increasingly painterly and eventually abstract. Today, Old Town II resides at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. It measures 52 x 78.5 cm.