Interpretations of Colour: The Creations of Alexander Scriabin and Wassily Kandinsky

Alexander Scriabin was a Russian composer who constructed a new world of music based on spirituality and mysticism. One example is Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, Op. 60, which was composed in 1910. Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian painter who later became a key figure at the Bauhaus, also added a spiritual dimension to paintings. While Scriabin explored the relationship between music and colour, Kandinsky explored ‘inside’ humans’ relationship to colour. This short article compares perceptions and ideas on colour in Scriabin’s Prometheus: The Poem of Fire and Kandinsky’s Concerning the Spiritual in Art (Über das Geistige in der Kunst) originally published in 1912. 

In Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, a ‘Clavier à lumières’ appears: a keyboard instrument that produces different light colours based on the sound being played (Scriabin, 1911, p. 2). The development of such an instrument was difficult at the time, therefore, as an alternative, changing coloured lights on a white screen were used in many performances of this piece in the twentieth century (Vanechkina and Galeyev, 1998, pp. 183). However, in a concert which took place in the N. G. Zhiganov Kazan State Conservatory on 21st June 1996, a range of Kandinsky’s paintings from Untitled Improvisation, 1914, and In Blue, 1940, were projected on the screen behind the orchestra instead (Vanechkina and Galeyev, 1998, pp. 183-184). This sounds like a unique combination but considering that Kandinsky was well aware of Scriabin’s music (Kandinsky, 1946, p. 30), such an idea does not seem surprising. 

Colours play a key role in the creations of both Scriabin and Kandinsky. One is able to note a similarity in the way in which they describe colours. Table 1(see below) summarises the musical tone and corresponding light colours of the Clavier à lumières in the Prometheus: The Poem of Fire. This was published by Leonid Sabaneyev in a journal titled Музыка (Muzyka) in January 1911 (Mirka, 1996, pp. 4-5). Kandinsky later explained the characteristics and effects of each colour in Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Table 2 (see below) summarises several of them (Kandinsky, 1946, pp. 60-72). He also mentioned that the characteristics and effects depend on factors such as the darkness and warmness of the colours (Kandinsky, 1946, pp. 62-63). 

Looking at Table 1, there are primary colours of red, yellow, and blue. There are also green, violet and more complicated colours such as steel-grey. From this, we can understand that Scriabin believes that a spectral system of colours also applies to the musical tone. A similar idea can be seen in Kandinsky. For example, mixing blue and yellow creates green. In fact, Kandinsky refers to the colour wheel in Concerning the Spiritual in Art (Kandinsky, 1946, pp. 72-73). 

However, one clear difference exists between Concerning the Spiritual in Art and the Clavier à lumières. While Scriabin looks at the musical tone, Kandinsky pays attention to the quality of sounds. Kandinsky classifies different types of blue: flute for light blue, cello for navy, dark navy for double bass and the darkest blue (almost black) for lower sounds of organ (Kandinsky, 1946, p. 65). Therefore, Scriabin described different sounds based on the musical tone with colours, but Kandinsky related characteristics of musical instruments to colour hue. This means that, unlike Scriabin, Kandinsky does not focus on which musical note the instruments produce. Instead, he focuses on how the characteristics and the effects of colours can be determined by factors such as darkness, which was mentioned earlier. 

Overall, we can see similar and different ideas towards colours in Prometheus: The Poem of Fire composed by Scriabin and Concerning the Spiritual in Art written by Kandinsky. The similarity is in their view of the logical system of colours and their application of this system to their fields: music and art. The difference, on the other hand, is the focus on musical tones or instruments. 

Combining Scriabin and Kandinsky’s works can be seen as an example of Gesamtkunstwerk: the blending of different artforms to create a ‘total’ work of art. This was popular in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Russia. For example, a successful collaboration between composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Ballets Russes led by Sergei Diaghilev, and Mir Iskusstva artists including Alexandre Benois, took place in early 20th century Paris. Vanechkina and Galeyev’s marrying of Scriabin’s music and Kandinsky’s paintings can be seen as a successful example of Gesamtkunstwerk in terms of how both seek to have a spiritual effect on the audience through colours. This comes from the similarity in how both the composer and the painter perceived and employed colours in their works. However, the mixture of different ideas about the connection between colours and musical sounds in the performance could create inconsistency. Combining different artforms requires consistent ideas between the artists and this reveals a complication of Gesamtkunstwerk.

Bibliography: 

Kandinsky, Wassily. (1946) On the Spiritual in Art. Edited by H. Rebay. New York City: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. 

Available at: https://www.csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/art206/onspiritualinart00kand.pdf (Accessed: 14th June 2024) 

Kandinsky, Wassily. (1977) Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Translated by M. T. H. Sadler. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 

Mirka, Danuta. (1996) ‘Colors of a Mystic Fire: Light and Sound in Scriabin’s Prometheus’, The American Journal of Semiotics, 13(1-4), pp. 227-248. 

Scriabin, Alexandre. (1911) Prométhée, Le Poème du Feu. Berlin: Editions Russes de Musique. 

Available at: https://imslp.org/wiki/Prometheus,_Le_Po%C3%A8me_du_Feu,_Op.60_(Scriabin,_Aleksandr) (Accessed: 23rd August 2024) 

Vanechkina, I. L. and Galeyev, B. M. (1998) ‘Prometheus: Scriabin + Kandinsky’, Leonardo, 31(3), pp. 183-184.