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How did Wassily Kandinsky move from painting landscapes to making abstract art?

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Wassily Kandinsky: Painting with Green Center — Wassily Kandinsky *Painting with Green Center*, oil on canvas by Wassily Kandinsky, 1913; in the Art Institute of Chicago.

Wassily Kandinsky’s transition from landscape painting to abstract art was a gradual evolution rather than a sudden shift. Beginning with a foundation in 19th-century realism, he was influenced by Impressionism, Art Nouveau, and Expressionism, which encouraged his use of nonnaturalistic colors and schematic forms.1

While working in Murnau, Germany, around 1909, Kandinsky began a process that led to his breakthrough into nonfigurative painting. His motivation was deeply rooted in the desire to create a visual "language"—similar to the abstract nature of music—that could express general ideas and evoke deep emotions without the distraction of recognizable objects.1

This evolution is visible in his works from that period:
* Blue Mountain (1908–09) shows the transition underway with dreamlike, schematic forms.1
* Landscape with Tower (1909) displays the beginning of a compositional "explosion".1
* By 1910, works like Improvisation XIV were practically abstract, leading to fully nonfigurative compositions by 1911.1