Page "Wassily Kandinsky" Paragraph 36

" Inner necessity " is, for Kandinsky, the principle of art and the foundation of forms and the harmony of colours.

He defines it as the principle of efficient contact of the form with the human soul.

Every form is the delimitation of a surface by another one ; it possesses an inner content, the effect it produces on one who looks at it attentively.

This inner necessity is the right of the artist to unlimited freedom, but this freedom becomes licence if it is not founded on necessity.

Art is born from the inner necessity of the artist in an enigmatic, mystical way through which it acquires an autonomous life ; it becomes an independent subject, animated by a spiritual breath.