A pioneering work in the movement to free art from its traditional bonds to material reality, Wassily Kandinsky's book ranks among the most significant documents in the history of 20th-century art. It expresses Kandinsky's own theory of painting and sums up ideas that influenced his contemporaries. His ideas are presented in two parts-the first, a call for a spiritual revolution in painting that permits artists to express their own inner lives in abstract, non-material words; the second, he discusses the psychology of colors, the language of form and color, and the responsibilities of the artist. Kandinsky concludes: "…we are fast approaching the time of reasoned and conscious composition, when the painter will be proud to declare his work constructive. This will be in contrast to the claim of the Impressionists that they could explain nothing, that their work came upon them by inspiration. We have before us the age of conscious creation, and this new spirit in painting in going hand in hand with the spirit of thought towards an epoch of great spiritual leaders." Ten black and white woodcuts by Kandinsky adorn the chapter headings.