Dr Hans Lühdorf, Dusseldorf (acquired in November 1942)
Sale: Lempertz, Cologne, 4th June 1985, no. 456
Private Collection, Germany

Artist's Handlist, Watercolours, listed as 'v 1935, 557, Lourd entre léger (Temp)' 
Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky, Watercolours, Catalogue raisonné, 1922-44, London, 1994, vol. II, no. 1186, illustrated in colour p. 402 & illustrated p. 411

Executed on thick card, not laid down, hinged to the mount to all four corners and to the centre of the upper edge, floating in the mount. There are some minor tiny nicks mainly to the upper and lower extreme edges. Apart from a pinhole towards the lower right corner (visible in the catalogue illustration) and a thin line of medium abrasion running along all four edges, probably due to previous mounting, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate, although the black is richer and crisper in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Schwer zwischen Leicht, executed in 1935, reflects Kandinsky's new approach to art. He saw non-objective art as the appropriate artistic medium for the new era of human spiritual development and sought to create an art that would be as purely, non-objectively expressive as music. Kandinsky desired to present a picture of the spiritual development of humankind, with the artist as a prophet whose vision draws humanity upward. The works from his Paris years (1933-1944) have been described as 'expressing a superior synthesis' (Will Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky: Life and Work, London, 1959, p. 227). In Kandinsky's language this would mean that they reflect a union of compositional technique and intuition but also a symbiotic relationship with scientific thinking. Schwer zwischen Leicht encapsulates this synthesis while at the same time evoking the reduced pictorial vocabulary style of his earlier Bauhaus period. The present work, containing bold white lines on the black monochrome background, illustrates the relationship between the forms themselves as well as their own relationship to the pictorial surface.

Kandinsky defined different relationships for the purpose of constructing a composition which has a close relation to the picture-plane. In one case, the artist used them complementarily to make the forms appear to 'become one' with the picture-plane; in the other case, he contrasted them so that the forms appear to 'lie free and float in space' (Paul Overy, Kandinsky: The Language of the Eye, London, 1969, p.141). In Schwer zwischen Leicht, Kandinsky uses the latter method, allowing the elements to float freely on the picture plane and the ethereal forms extend from the surface into the v♒iewer's s🅠pace.