Exiled Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky is credited with the first modern abstract painting, yet it was his theories of art that have had a profound and lasting impact. Comparing the artistic impulse to playing a piano, he wrote: "Color is the key. The eye is the hammer. The soul is the piano with its many chords. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another to cause vibrations in the soul." This introductory biography includes color reproductions of 20 major works, and is illustrated throughout with Adam Simpson's superbly detailed drawings, inspired by Kandinsky's art.