Thursday, October 4, 2007

Kandinsky Cat Revelation



The painter Wassily Kandinsky is known as the father of abstraction. He began to let go of recognizible imagery after noticing a particularly impressive painting in his studio. He realized it was one of his own paintings but it was placed upside down and this caused him to notice a whole new world of possibility. So, I wonder if Kandinsky still painted paintings right side up and then turned them upside down for the unsuspecting art world? Maybe he did it once in awhile, or to just to get started on his own journey of pure abstraction? Well, I turned Kandinsky's painting "Red, Yellow and Blue" upside down and guess what? It is undeniably a CAT! What do you think? I don't think I am reading into this. But, I would love to have your opinion. Well, there is no doubt that artists love cats and I have seen photos of all the greats (Picasso, Paul Klee, Gustav Klimt) tenderly embracing a cat. Here is the painting, first right side up and then upside down.

Yellow-Red-Blue 1925


The Upside Down Version of Yellow-Red-Blue

What do you see? I see whiskers, eyes, tail, ears and back paws. Yellow-Red-Blue is an abstracted cat to me...tricky Kandinsky!


16 comments:

Karen Jo said...

It really looks like a cat to me, too. I noticed the face right away, then the other features you mentioned. Right side up, the yellow area looks like an abstract human face to me.

LZ said...

I have to say its really very beautiful! Usually the LL isn't all that into modern art but these are really lovely.

Kaze

Starbuck and Torrey said...

You're right! It looks like a cat! That's fantastic! I'll have to show my kids on Monday!

Mickey's Musings said...

Yup,it's a cat. It is a neat painting either was, but it is a cat.I'm going to look at some of your older posts,K?

Mickey's Musings said...

Looks good.I look forward to seeing your works. I'll see you again!

Diamond Emerald-Eyes said...

Painting right side up is cat sleeping on his back. I sleep like this often.

Mr. Hendrix said...

I totally see that! How amazing. It is nice to meet you. I am a rescued black cat like the one you met and rescued. I too rule my house with an iron paw. I look forward to more visits with you.

Mommy is a big animal lover. She donates lotsa time and money to help them. She loves seeing animal art too.

Samantha & Mom said...

Wow, it does look like a cat. Cool. This looks like a great blog. We'll be back to see you some more. The art is neat and so colorful.
Your FL furiends,

Tara said...

Mom looked at those for a long time. Very interesting!
Tara

Unknown said...

Definitly a cat!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tatiana Gamarra said...

Really nice paintings.... is nice to see recopilations of cat art works...saludos desde Peru!

xoxo
CucaraƱas

Mark Monk said...

I have a poster of this painting in my bathroom, let's just say in a place I see often. I finally hung it upside down because I liked the yellow cat looking at me.

It's an amazing piece and I often find new things to notice in it.

Fun observation!

Unknown said...

I have this print outside my office and have always seen it "upside-down". Definitely cat. If you look to the right of the head, you will see a blue smudge. Looks like a mouse-cat toy. A ring for a head and a definite tail leading up between the black arc and the blue shape.
I see a sun in the upper-left corner, so the yellow in the image is sunlight that the cat lies in.
Funny that down the hall is the same picture right-side-up. I knew they were related, but never realized they were identical.

Richard Marks said...

Of course it's a cat and of course he painted it that way. I'll bet he is still laughing that art experts in 12 piece suits are analyzing the geometric composition of it with the cat upside down.

Unknown said...

Cat upside down? Cats sometimes sleep upside down, and especially they can be upside down when playing with a catnip mouse.