Concerning the Spiritual in Art

For Wassily Kandinsky, social progress consists of an increasing level of spirituality in society, and artists are the leaders of this progress. Kandinsky defines this role by stating that “every man who steeps himself in the spiritual possibilities of his art is a valuable helper in the building of the spiritual pyramid which will some day reach to heaven” (20). Kandinsky’s vision for art thus has an element of the utopian, with the arts serving a clear moral purpose in leading humankind toward an ideal state of being. They do this by enhancing people’s spiritual consciousness, helping them shed the idea that matter is all that exists and that science and reason can explain everything.

However, Kandinsky stresses that artists do not automatically belong to a higher spiritual level; they are found also in the lower and less spiritual segments of the triangle. Enlightenment in artists, as in society on the whole, comes with greater spiritual consciousness and desire to express “inner life” instead of the purely external aspects of the world. Artists tap into the imaginative and spiritual sides of human experience, speaking directly to the heart and soul “in the language that is peculiarly their own” (19), such as using colors, sounds, or words.