Why did Wassily Kandinsky compare painting to music?

Wassily Kandinsky compared painting to music because he sought to develop a visual "language" of colors, lines, and shapes that functioned similarly to the abstract nature of music. By freeing these elements from the need to depict recognizable objects, he believed they could directly express profound ideas and evoke deep emotions in the viewer.1

Kandinsky viewed his Compositions as "inner visions" that were analogous to a symphony in their form and construction. He believed that art should act as a spiritual remedy for a materialist world, allowing the viewer to immerse themselves within the work. His theoretical approach, detailed in his treatise Concerning the Spiritual in Art, further explored these connections by assigning specific sensory qualities to colors—for instance, comparing yellow to the aggressive sound of a trumpet and blue to the heavenly sound of a pipe organ.23