Inspired by mysticism and theosophy, Wassily Kandinsky affirmed his belief that art was “not a mere purposeless creating of things...but a power that has a purpose and must serve the development and refinement of the human soul.” For Kandinsky, pure abstraction, freed of ties to physical reality, possessed the greatest potential for developing a universal, cosmic sensibility in humanity.

Painted in Germany while he was a faculty member at the progressive Bauhaus, Line-Spot represents the geometric abstract mode that Kandinsky developed during this time. In particular, the principle of contrast, identified in Kandinsky’s 1926 treatise entitled Point and Line to Plane, is essential to this vibrantly colored composition of lines, circles, rectangles and triangles. Here, textured organic forms serve as effective counterpoint to smooth geometric shapes.