{"id":12534,"date":"2026-03-06T09:57:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.camruss.com\/?post_type=tribe_events&#038;p=12534"},"modified":"2026-04-11T22:49:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T21:49:57","slug":"pure-painting-wassily-kandinsky-and-the-birth-of-abstraction-by-dr-natalia-murray","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/events\/pure-painting-wassily-kandinsky-and-the-birth-of-abstraction-by-dr-natalia-murray\/","title":{"rendered":"Pure painting: Wassily Kandinsky and the birth of abstraction by Dr Natalia Murray"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div id=\"attachment_12537\" style=\"width: 228px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12537\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12537\" src=\"https:\/\/www.camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Vassily_Kandinsky_by_Adolf_Elnain_1-218x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"218\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Vassily_Kandinsky_by_Adolf_Elnain_1-218x300.png 218w, https:\/\/camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Vassily_Kandinsky_by_Adolf_Elnain_1-745x1024.png 745w, https:\/\/camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Vassily_Kandinsky_by_Adolf_Elnain_1.png 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 218px) 100vw, 218px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-12537\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.centrepompidou.fr\/en\/ressources\/oeuvre\/cn7j7rx\">Wassily\u00a0Kandinsky by Adolf Elnain, 1925<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>One of the pioneers of abstract modern art, Wassily Kandinsky, who spent most of his life between Munich and Paris and died in 1944 as a French citizen, exploited the evocative interrelation between colour and form to create an aesthetic experience that engaged the sight, sound, and emotions of the public. This lecture will discuss the revolutionary role of Wassily Kandinsky in the birth of abstract art and the radical shift he initiated in early twentieth-century art. Moving beyond representation, Kandinsky sought to express inner emotion, spirituality, and the unseen forces of the human experience through colour, line, and form. Through close analysis of key paintings, we trace Kandinsky\u2019s evolution from expressive landscapes to fully non-objective compositions, emphasizing his theory of colour symbolism, compositional rhythm, and the spiritual dimension of abstraction.<\/p>\n<p><b>When: <\/b>Wednesday, 29 April, 18:30-20:00 (BST)<br \/>\n<b>Where: <\/b>The Old Library, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1RF<br \/>\n<strong>Language: <\/strong>English<br \/>\n<strong>Format:<\/strong>\u00a0In-person &amp; Online via Zoom<br \/>\n<strong>In-person tickets:<\/strong> \u00a310 \u2014 Standard; \u00a37 \u2014 CamRuSS Members and Students<br \/>\n<strong>Tickets on the door:<\/strong> \u00a311 \u2014 Standard; \u00a38 \u2014 CamRuSS Members and Students<br \/>\n<strong>Zoom tickets:<\/strong> \u00a35 \u2013 Standard, free \u2013 CamRuSS Members<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/allevents.in\/cambridge\/80002320000143?aff_id=u1g8yq&amp;ref=sharer\"><strong>Please book\u00a0via\u00a0AllEvents<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Followed by a wine reception<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12535\" style=\"width: 212px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12535\" class=\" wp-image-12535\" src=\"https:\/\/www.camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_9603-225x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"269\" srcset=\"https:\/\/camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_9603-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_9603.jpeg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-12535\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr Natalia Murray<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Dr Natalia Murray<\/strong> gained a BA and MA in art history at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, and a PhD at The Courtauld. She is a writer, lecturer and curator specialising in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russian and Western European art and is the curator of the Royal Academy\u2019s major exhibition Revolution. Russian Art 1917-1932 (2017). Natalia is currently working on several new exhibition projects in the US and in Europe, while also teaching as a Lecturer in Modern Art and Curating at The Courtauld. She has published widely: her most recent book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Two-Women-Patrons-Russian-Avant-Garde\/dp\/1913491277\"><em>Two Women Patrons of the Russian Avant-Garde. Nadezhda Dobychina and Klavdia Mikhailova<\/em> <\/a>(2021), was written together with Natalia Budanova and dedicated to the first gallerists in Russia.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12538\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12538\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12538\" src=\"https:\/\/www.camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-1-300x288.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-1-300x288.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-1.jpeg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-12538\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Wassily_Kandinsky,_1903,_The_Blue_Rider_(Der_Blaue_Reiter),_oil_on_canvas,_52.1_x_54.6_cm,_Stiftung_Sammlung_E.G._B%C3%BChrle,_Zurich.jpg\">Wassily Kandinsky, The Blue Rider<\/a>, 1903<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12536\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12536\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12536\" src=\"https:\/\/www.camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-300x241.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"241\" srcset=\"https:\/\/camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-300x241.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/camruss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image.jpeg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-12536\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Wassily_Kandinsky,_1910,_Landscape_with_Factory_Chimney,_oil_on_canvas,_66.2_x_82_cm,_Solomon_R._Guggenheim_Museum.jpg\">Wassily Kandinsky, Landscape with Factory Chimney<\/a>, 1910<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the pioneers of abstract modern art, Wassily Kandinsky, who spent most of his life between Munich and Paris and died in 1944 as a French citizen, exploited the evocative interrelation between colour and form to create an aesthetic &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/events\/pure-painting-wassily-kandinsky-and-the-birth-of-abstraction-by-dr-natalia-murray\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[451,47,401,452,457,161,330,246,454,453,455,450,456,467,465,466],"tribe_events_cat":[14,99],"class_list":["post-12534","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","hentry","tag-abstract-art","tag-art","tag-cambridge-talks","tag-dr-natalia-murray","tag-kandinsky","tag-modern-art","tag-russian-art","tag-talk","tag-the-courtauld","tag-twentieth-century-art","tag-twentieth-century-russian-art","tag-wassily-kandinsky","tag-western-european-art","tag-467","tag-465","tag-466","tribe_events_cat-arthistory","tribe_events_cat-online-talk","cat_arthistory","cat_online-talk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/12534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12534"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/12534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12580,"href":"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/12534\/revisions\/12580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12534"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camruss.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=12534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}