--- title: Google Doodle Commemorates Russian Painter Wassily Kandinsky description: Known as the first truly abstract artist, he would have been 148 years old today canonical: https://time.com/3635356/google-doodle-kandinsky-russia-abstract-painter/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-16T04:51:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:14.819Z og:title: Google Celebrates Kandinsky og:description: Latest Google Doodle commemorates renowned Russian artist og:url: https://time.com/3635356/google-doodle-kandinsky-russia-abstract-painter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03a7dcb834214010/69876f0b55a85940e7a84c75/kandinsky-painting-christies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: US-ART-AUCTION-CHRISTIES og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Celebrates Kandinsky twitter:description: Latest Google Doodle commemorates renowned Russian artist twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03a7dcb834214010/69876f0b55a85940e7a84c75/kandinsky-painting-christies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Doodle Commemorates Russian Painter Wassily Kandinsky > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Dec 16, 2014 4:51 AM UTC  The Department Chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie's, speaks about Wassily Kandinsky's "Strandszene", painted in 1909, on display May 2, 2014 in New York City. The Department Chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie's, speaks about Wassily Kandinsky's "Strandszene", painted in 1909, on display May 2, 2014 in New York City.Stan Honda—AFP/Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Dec 16, 2014 4:51 AM UTC Renowned Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky, the man whose 148th birthday Google is [celebrating](http://www.google.com) in its latest Doodle, only started painting when he was 30. Born in Moscow in 1866, Kandinsky grew up in Odessa and then studied Law and Economics before being offered a professorship at the University of Dorpat, Estonia. He left this position in 1896 and relocated to Munich seeking admission into the city’s Academy of Fine Arts. After initially being shunned, he entered the academy a few years later, where he flourished as a painter and an art theorist. Kandinsky, who was inspired to take up painting by French impressionist painter Claude Monet’s iconic _Haystacks_ and composer Richard Wagner’s opera _Lohengrin_, is known as the first truly abstract artist and often likened painting to music. “Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul,” he wrote in his [iconic text](http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=0AV8LSrexjYC&pg=PA32&redir%5Fesc=y) _Concerning the Spiritual In Art_. Kandinsky moved back to his native Russia following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, but returned to Germany in 1921 after being dissatisfied with the official theories of art under the communist regime. In 1933 he emigrated to France, where he lived out the rest of his days until his death in 1944. ### See Google Doodles Through the Years  Aug. 26, 2015 For the 70th anniversary of La Tomatina. Google  May 26, 2015 In celebration of the 64th birthday of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Google  March 31, 2015 Honoring the 126th anniversary of the public opening of the Eiffel Tower. Google  Mar. 20, 2015 To celebrate the start of spring and the vernal equinox, Google created a stop-motion animation of flowers in bloom. Google  Nov. 12, 2014 For the landing of the Philae lander, the first spacecraft on a moving comet, Google created a gyrating lander with passing stars. Google  Sept. 9, 2014 For Tolstoy's 186th birthday, the Google Doodle team created an appropriately long click-through doodle. Google  May 27, 2014 For the Rachel Louise Carson doodle, the team surrounded her with birds and sea creatures to celebrate her 107th birthday. Google  May 4 2014 For Audrey Hepburn's 85th birthday, the doodle team adapted an image from a 1956 black and white photograph taken by Yousuf Karsh. Google  June 9, 2011 The doodlers came up with the idea of a playable logo, then pegged it to guitar innovator Les Paul's 96th birthday. Turning on composer mode allows you to create songs that you can share online. Google  March 24, 2011 The Harry Houdini doodle was created in the style of the old posters advertising the death-defying magician. Google  Nov. 25, 2010 Chef Ina Garten prepared this Thanksgiving feast, which Google photographed. If you clicked on a dish, her recipe appeared. Google  May 7, 2010 Google asked the San Francisco Ballet to pose and twirl to re-create Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. Google  Oct. 7, 2009 Scan the doodle that marks the first patent for the bar code and you'll decode Google embedded within. Google  March 2, 2009 The doodlers arranged classic Dr. Seuss characters, like the Cat in the Hat and the Grinch, to form the logo's letters. Google  Jan. 28, 2009 There was no other way to honor abstract artist Jackson Pollack than with a chaotic drip painting. Google  Jan. 19, 2009 Guest artist Shepard Fairey (famed for his Obama HOPE poster) did a sketch for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Google  Jan. 28, 2008 Early on, Google used Lego blocks as casing for hard disks. Later it feted Lego's 50th anniversary. Google  April 22, 2007 A melting iceberg for Earth Day is one of many eco-minded doodles the team has created. Google  Jan. 4, 2006 Enter the world of out-there doodles — Google in braille. Only problem: you can't feel it. Google  March 30, 2005 The Van Gogh doodle appeared in an era when doodles began to get more ambitious, and it's one of the doodlers' best interpretations of a specific painter. Google  Aug. 13, 2003 Early doodles of famous folk tended to be simple, like this silhouette of Alfred Hitchcock. Google  March 14, 2003 The early doodles were often simple but playful, like this mustachioed drawing of Albert Einstein to celebrate his birthday. Google  Nov. 14, 2001 Google's first doodler, Dennis Hwang, gave the logo an Impressionist look for Claude Monet's birthday. Google  Aug. 30, 1998 When employees left for the Burning Man festival, the Google logo became a cryptic BE BACK LATER sign. "There was no master plan for doodles at that point," says doodler-in-chief Ryan Germick. 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