The life and times of Wassily Kandinsky

1866 Born in Moscow on December 4, to a well-off family

1886 Enrols at the University of Moscow to study law and economics

1892 Marries his cousin Anna Chimyakina and joins the Moscow Faculty of Law

1896 Quits his job and moves to Munich to study art, first with Anton Ažbe, then at the Academy of Fine Arts

1901 Becomes romantically involved with fellow Expressionist Gabriele Münter

1903 Paints Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), which inspires the Expressionist movement of the same name

1906 Spends several years travelling Europe and experimenting with various artistic styles

1908 First visits the village of Murnau in the Bavarian Alps, to which he continually returns with Münter

1909 Founds and becomes president of the Munich New Artists’ Association 1910 Writes his first treatise, On the Spiritual in Art

1911 Founds Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) group with Münter and Franz Marc. Officially divorces Chimyakina

1914 Returns to Russia at the outbreak of the First World War

1917 Marries Nina Andreievskaya. She gives birth to a son named Vsevolod, who dies in 1920

1919 Creates the Institute of Artistic Culture and becomes director of the Moscow Museum of Pictorial Culture, organising 22 exhibitions across the Soviet Union

1922 Moves back to Germany amid growing hostilities towards avant-garde art. Takes up a teaching post at the Bauhaus in Weimar

1926 Publishes his important treatise Point and Line to Plane

1928 Becomes a German citizen 1933 The Bauhaus dissolves following a raid by the Gestapo. Kandinsky moves to Paris with his wife

1937 His paintings are exhibited as part of the Nazis’ ‘Degenerate Art’ exhibition in Munich; at least 57 of his works are seized by the regime

1939 Becomes a French citizen, which prevents him from being detained as a foreign threat once war breaks out, unlike many other artists

1944 Dies of cerebrovascular disease in Neuilly-sur-seine