Some Thoughts on "Reconsidering the Spiritual in Art" and Kandinsky's Artwork - Jacob Hamilton

 I found myself incredibly sympathetic to Kandinsky's project as it is layed out by Donald Kuspit in his essay, “Reconsidering the Spiritual in Art.” Kandinsky is portrayed as a spiritual seeker who desired to rekindle the sacred in art in opposition to the overly commercialized forms of art common in his day. According to Kuspit, Kandinsky wanted to recapture through his art the feeling of walking through a Russian Orthodox Church. Kandinsky felt he could do this by going beyond form and creating abstract art.  

When looking at Kandinsky's work, I feel somewhat disappointed. Its not that I can't appreciate Kandinsky's work. His paintings certainly are achievements of great technical mastery. Yet, I fail to get any sense of the sacred in his work, something he was anxious to capture. To me, the aesthetic experience of walking through an Orthodox church versus looking at a painting by Kandinsky is in no way commensurate. I can appreciate Kandinsky's work, but perhaps not in the way Kandinsky intended.  

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