Pure painting: Wassily Kandinsky and the birth of abstraction by Dr Natalia Murray
Schedule
Wed Apr 29 2026 at 06:30 pm to 08:00 pm
UTC+01:00Location
The Old Library, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1RF | Cambridge, EN
One of the pioneers of abstract modern art, Wassily Kandinsky, who spent most of his life between Munich and Paris and died in 1944 as a French citizen, exploited the evocative interrelation between colour and form to create an aesthetic experience that engaged the sight, sound, and emotions of the public. This lecture will discuss the revolutionary role of Wassily Kandinsky in the birth of abstract art and the radical shift he initiated in early twentieth-century art. Moving beyond representation, Kandinsky sought to express inner emotion, spirituality, and the unseen forces of the human experience through colour, line, and form. Through close analysis of key paintings, we trace Kandinsky’s evolution from expressive landscapes to fully non-objective compositions, emphasizing his theory of colour symbolism, compositional rhythm, and the spiritual dimension of abstraction.
When: Wednesday, 29 April, 18:30-20:00 (BST)
Where: The Old Library, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1RF
Language: English
Format: In-person & Online via Zoom
In-person tickets: £10 — Standard; £7 — CamRuSS Members and Students
Tickets on the door: £11 — Standard; £8 — CamRuSS members and Students
Zoom tickets: £5 – Standard, free – CamRuSS Members
Followed by a wine reception
Dr Natalia Murray gained a BA and MA in art history at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, and a PhD at The Courtauld. She is a writer, lecturer and curator specialising in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russian and Western European art and is the curator of the Royal Academy’s major exhibition Revolution. Russian Art 1917-1932 (2017). Natalia is currently working on several new exhibition projects in the US and in Europe, while also teaching as a Lecturer in Modern Art and Curating at The Courtauld. She has published widely: her most recent book, Two Women Patrons of the Russian Avant-Garde. Nadezhda Dobychina and Klavdia Mikhailova (2021), was written together with Natalia Budanova and dedicated to the first gallerists in Russia.
Where is it happening?
The Old Library, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1RF, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1RF, Cambridge, United KingdomGBP 0.00 to GBP 10.00
