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Wassily Kandinsky, one of the most important pioneers of abstract art, was born in Moscow in 1866. From 1871 to 1885 he lived in Odesa, Ukraine, before returning to Moscow to study law and economics.
In 1896 he moved to Munich to study art. In 1901 he was one of the founders of the Phalanx avant-garde artists' society, and in 1902 joined the Berlin Sezession movement. Between 1903 and 1908 he travelled widely in Western Europe and Africa. Following his return to Munich he became one of the founders of the New Association of Munich Artists. From 1911 Kandinsky was one of the most active figures in Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a group of German expressionists.
In 1914 Kandinsky returned to Moscow, then settled again in Germany in 1921. In 1933, following the denunciation of his work by the Nazis, he moved to Paris where he remained until his death in 1944.
Kandinsky’s work was influenced by Ukrainian artistic traditions, notably the use of bright colours and religious themes. Although his works were being shown as early as 1902, his first major exhibition was organised in Ukraine (Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kherson) in 1910-11.