Black Lines, 1913, oil on canvas. Painting by Wassily Kandinsky.

Black Lines, 1913, oil on canvas. Painting by Wassily Kandinsky. Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( Russian: Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy), (16 December 1866 – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in western art, possibly after Hilma af Klint. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in Odesa, where he graduated at Grekov Odesa Art school. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics. Successful in his profession—he was offered a professorship (chair of Roman Law) at the University of Dorpat (today Tartu, Estonia)—Kandinsky began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of 30.