From 1897 until 1899 he studied at the private art school of Anton Ažbè where he met the painter Alexei van Jawlensky. He moved on and studied at the Academy in Munich with fellow student Paul Klee who also had a tremendous impact on his work. However, it was not long before his talent surpassed the constraints of art school and he began exploring his own ideas of painting.

Kandinsky soon became an active participant in several of the most influential and controversial art movements of the 20th century. ‘The Blue Rider’ which he founded along with Franz Marc and the ‘Bauhaus’ which also included such artists as Klee, Geiniger, and Schonberg. Kandinsky, now considered to be one of the founders of abstract art, began exhibiting his work throughout Europe and continued to express and define his form of art, both on canvas and in his theoretical writings.

His reputation as a great artist became established in the United States through numerous exhibitions in New York where his work was introduced to Solomon Guggenheim, who became one of his most enthusiastic supporters. Though his professional life was flourishing his personal life was distressing. His marriage to his first wife Anya ended in 1911 and after fleeing to Switzerland during the First World War remarried and then suffered the loss of his son, Vsevolod, who died in infancy. After the war he returned to Germany where he stayed until 1933 when he moved to France and settled near Paris, in Neuilly. The paintings from these later years were again the subject of controversy. Though out of favour with many of Paris's artistic community, many younger artists such as Miro and Arp admired Kandinsky and visited his studio regularly.

Kandinsky continued painting, declining an invitation to immigrate to America in 1941 and instead staying in Neuilli-sur-Seine where he worked feverishly until he died on December 13, 1944 at the age of 78.