A rare 1926 film captures Wassily Kandinsky as he turns a blank canvas into one of his abstract compositions. Shot at the Galerie Neumann-Nieren dorf in Berlin by documentary pioneer Hans Cürlis, the footage finds Kandinsky working while teaching at the Bauhau
In 1926, a blank canvas doesn’t stay blank for long. In a short vintage film, Wassily Kandinsky leans into the work as straight lines and curves take shape—measuring themselves against the emptiness they’re meant to transform.
The footage is set in Berlin at the Galerie Neumann-Nieren dorf, filmed by Hans Cürlis, a pioneer in making art documentaries. At that time, Kandinsky was teaching at the Bauhaus, working in the middle of a turning point in his own language of form.
The year the film was made—1926—was also the year Kandinsky published his second major treatise. On Point and Line to Plane. In the painting shown here. the geometry feels less like instinct alone and more like something deliberately tightened: the lines and contours are typical of a period when his approach was becoming less intuitive and more consciously geometric.
That shift lands with a quiet tension, because Kandinsky’s mind was never only geometric. Even as his work at the Bauhaus took on a more analytical posture. he continued speaking about art in deeply mystical terms. In On Point and Line to Plane. he wrote: “The work of Art mirrors itself upon the surface of our consciousness. However, its image extends beyond, to vanish from the surface without a trace when the sensation has subsided. A certain transparent, but definite glass-like partition, abolishing direct contact from within, seems to exist here as well. Here. too. exists the possibility of entering art’s message. to participate actively. and to experience its pulsating life with all one’s senses.”.
What makes the film feel so extraordinary isn’t just that it documents a master at work. It’s the way it lets you watch the moment where two Kandinskys coexist: the teacher immersed in the Bauhaus. shaping form with careful structure. and the artist who still insists that art reaches inward—beyond the surface—into something that can’t be fully pinned down.
Note: An earlier version of this post appeared on our site in 2012.
Wassily Kandinsky 1926 film Galerie Neumann-Nieren dorf Hans Cürlis Bauhaus abstract art On Point and Line to Plane
So the video is literally like time travel? wild.
I thought Kandinsky died way earlier than 1926? Unless this is some other dude. Also Bauhaus sounds like a furniture store lol.
Wait if it was filmed at Galerie Neumann-Nieren dorf in Berlin, why do they keep saying “Bauhau In 1926” like it’s a different place? And “On Point and Line to Plane” is that like a math thing? Kinda confusing but the blank canvas turning into shapes is cool.
The mystical quote is giving me vibes like he’s trying to say the painting is alive or something, but also the article makes it sound super scientific? So was he basically just teaching geometry to the world or what. Either way I wanna see the actual film not just the essay.