Painting with Troika

Painting with Troika is an early near-abstract work by Vasily Kandinsky, painted in Munich during the period when he helped found Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). The composition centers on a troika, a traditional Russian carriage drawn by three horses, whose forms dissolve into sweeping lines and luminous patches of color. Kandinsky drew on motifs from his native Russia and on folk and children's art, sources the Blue Rider group prized for their directness and spiritual resonance. The work is set in a frame the artist hand-painted especially for it, integrating the picture and its border into a single object. Its expressive brushwork and symbolic use of color reflect the group's belief in the emotional and spiritual power of form. The painting entered the Art Institute of Chicago through the Arthur Jerome Eddy Memorial Collection.