• This masterpiece of Kandinsky’s latter years was painted in 1913
• It was painted with oil on canvas
• Dimensions of this painting are 78.7 in by 118.1 in (200 cm by 300 cm)
• It is kept in State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow

This artwork of monumental proportions is an entirely abstract work, with enormous thematic complexity. Kandinsky executed over 30 studies for this painting in various mediums, such as oil sketches, ink drawings and watercolors; most of these studies are about the compositional structure, while others are basically paintings on their own. After spending a considerable amount of time developing the idea for Composition VII Kandinsky painted this painting within a few days, between 25th and 28th November 1913. This process was documented in a series of four photographs by Gabriele Munter. They represent a fascinating insight in the development of Kandinsky’s art.

Kandinsky started executing this painting from the centre, outlining an oval form with black. Although he performed a lot of preparatory work he maintained the central motif: an oval form intersected by an irregular triangle. He then continued to ad colors and vibrant forms to his painting, paying them all a lot of attention. The oval from the centre stands like an eye of the hurricane of colored masses and forms. Some of the forms from his preparatory work almost disappear, drowned into the transparent background. He obliterated almost all pictorial representations. For example, a small triangle near the bottom of the painting can only be distinguished by traces of a white aura in the final work.

The canvas is fragmented into myriads of small, lively colored segments. Painting appears to be a part of a larger world, since pieces of colored canvas seem to extend beyond its borders, especially on the top and the upper right corner. Combined with larger planes of color on the bottom and left corner this effect also gives the painting a powerful diagonal orientation, which is already present in one of the early ink sketches.

Kandinsky wanted to portray truths and profound emotions, so he set himself free from depicting only that which is of material nature. His art goes straight to the heart of the observer with an effect like that of music, and in many ways he used musical metaphors for his art. He uses his shapes and colors as a composer would use his notes and chooses them based on the expressions of emotions they bear, which sometimes cannot be translated into words. No color stands on its own; Kandinsky placed them one next to the other and manipulated the energy that came from their combination, thus creating a majestic symphony on his canvas.

Kandinsky himself described this painting as the most important of his pre-war years. It stands a wonderful symphony of colors and forms, arranged with vast complexity and multiple layers. Kandinsky’s biographer, Will Grohmann, described this painting as “smoldering fire, approaching disaster”, as he was referring to the threat of war standing on the horizon, which may have affected artist’s work in this period.

Through Kandinsky’s writings and his less abstract preparatory work art scholars determined that this painting holds lots of biblical references, such as themes from The Resurrection, The Last Judgment, The Deluge and The Garden of Love.