Painting with Troika
January 18, 1911
Medium
Oil on cardboard; in artist's painted frame
Dimensions
69.7 × 97.3 cm (27 3/8 × 38 5/16 in.)
Classification
oil on cardboard
Department
Modern Art
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
8983
Art Historical Context
Created in January 1911, Vasily Kandinsky’s *Painting with Troika* captures a pivotal moment in modern art history. At this time, the Russian-born artist was living in Germany and co-founding the influential Blue Rider group, whose members sought to express inner spiritual experience through color and form. The title references a traditional Russian three-horse sleigh, hinting at Kandinsky’s cultural roots even as his imagery began to dissolve into near-abstraction. The work’s significance lies in its place within Kandinsky’s rapid evolution toward non-representational painting. Executed in o...