Choreographing Kandinsky’s ‘Spiritual’ in Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that Wassily Kandinsky’s geometrical paintings were inspired by the ballet world, and by the body movements of the ballerina. Moreover, painting and ballet communicate with each other. And geometry has helped that. Then, the idea of this article starts with the necessity in relating Kandinsky’s Spiritual theory on non-materiality exposed in Über das Geistige in der Kunst with Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes brought on Parisian scene between 1909s and 1929s. Ballets Russes is the term which names all the ballet representations thought and designed by Sergei Diaghilev after his musical-cultural conflict with Nikolai Rimski Korsakov. Starting with 1907s, Kandinsky had initiated Der Blaue Reiter group and he starts with various drawing techniques. Were favourable years in which Kandinsky’s evolution from simple drawings to sophisticated Compositions got up. We are witnessing a cultural increasement. So, the ballet, the music, the theatre and the painting can not be separated any more or, at least, or, at least, cannot be thought of separately as systems of aesthetic theory. The aesthetic evolution from ballet and theatre had influenced the evolution in painting. What we will try to show as novelty in our investigation, is the kinetic and spiritual relation between Kandinsky’s Compositions and some representations from Ballets Russes by Sergei Diaghilev, especially with the «L’Oiseau de feu». In conclusion, we want to show how the lines designed by Wassily Kandinsky are describing ballet’s movements. The methods used in our research have consisted in the inter-artistic comparison between Wassily Kandinsky’s theory of painting and the ballets designed by Sergei Diaghilev. We also brought a philosophical and personal perspective on both worlds.