The Russian artist Vasilii Vasilievich Kandinsky attended the school of Anton Azbe in Munich from 1897 to 1899 and then studied with Franz von Stuck at the Munich Academy of Arts. A world traveler, Kandinsky lived in Munich from 1907 to 1914, returned to Moscow until 1921, moved to Germany until 1933, and then settled permanently in France. One of the founders of the Munich Arts Association, he also was instrumental in forming the artists' groups "Phalanx" (1901), the "New Association of Artists" (1909), and the "Blue Rider" (1911), in addition to the Museum of Pictorial Culture (1919) and the Institute of Artistic Culture (1920).

Kandinsky taught at the State Free Art Studios Higher Art and Technical Studios (Vkhutemas) in Moscow for three years (1918-1921) and at Moscow University in 1920. After he moved to Germany, he was an instructor at the architectural and art school of the Bauhaus in Weimar from 1921 to 1925 and then for another eight years in Dessau (1925-1933).