Question by timothy: Was Wassily Kandinsky really a synesthete?
Was Wassily Kandinsky really a synesthete?Was it true that listening to a jazz orchestra made him see colors?
Answers and Views:
Answer by GetMeTheBigKnife
indeed this is implied in the Blue Rider:
“The Blue Riders believed that colors, shapes and forms had equivalence with sounds and music, and sought to create color harmonies which would be purifying to the soul. Although in this very earliest works, the impressionistic influence was recognizable, the artists who took part in The Blue Rider were considered to be the pioneers of abstract art or abstract expressionism. Their work promoted individual expression and broke free from any artistic restraints.”
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Giacommo P says
I've read that he indeed had synesthesia as well as Hockney and other artists. I don't like Kandinsky, and the fact that he was a synesthete doesn't justify his art. It has been proven that our senses correlate to one another, and synesthesia is just a condition that exaggerates the state. It allows the person to see colors in numbers, letters, and music. This may just enhance the propensity to a creativity. Statistics also show that people with dyslexia tend to be more creative and to think more in images instead of words. But dyslexia itself does not account for creativity, imagination or good art skills. The same can be said of synesthesia, the ability to see colors where other can't does not account for great artistry. If this were true any person with half talent that do lsd would be just a genius as kandinsky. In short Kandinsky did have synesthesia, and although this makes him interesting, it does not account for good art.