Concerning the Spiritual in Art

“Modern artists are beginning to realize their social duties.”

Stated by M. T. H. Sadler in the Translator’s Introduction, this quote expresses what Sadler sees as the end of the bohemian, antisocial attitude among artists of the Romantic era and a more socially conscious attitude taking shape in modern times. Wassily Kandinsky will confirm this view in the text of the book, speaking of art as closely connected with society and of artists as having definite duties and responsibilities.

“But hungry souls go away hungry.”

Kandinsky describes the effect of aestheticist art, dominated by the motto “art for art’s sake” (4), on the public. He believes that such art does not satisfy the need of the soul for spiritual sustenance, because it is concerned merely with technical perfection and accomplishment. Kandinsky will outline an alternative aesthetic based on the expression of inner spiritual ideas.

“This ‘what’ is the internal truth which only art can divine, which only art can express by those means of expression which are hers alone.”

Kandinsky believes that art should be concerned with a “what” (i.e., spiritual ideas) instead of simply a “how” (i.e., technique). Presently, mainstream art is concerned mainly with “how.” The artist of the future must overcome this by listening to his inner voice that will help him give “free scope to his finer feelings” (9).