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sai-national.org • Winter 2023 15 SAI Natial Cvention A rt inspired by music tends to be more abstract (non-representational), perhaps because of music's ephemeral nature, and there are different ways this manifests. For instance, an artist can be affected deeply by a specific musical experience and create an artistic acknowledgment of it, use defined musical elements to build an artwork, or just acknowledge their own connection with music in a more general way. Here are a few examples that show this variety of approaches. Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky was an interesting case in that he had a condition that produced responses involving a combination of all his senses to different kinds of artistic expression. Known as synesthesia, it caused Kandinsky to see sound and hear colors. For instance, as his book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, explains, the sound of a flute was to him light blue in color, while a cello sound was a darker blue. Reflecting further, he wrote that he thought that "... the various arts are drawing together. ey are finding in music the best teacher" (Kandinsky: 19) and that "… music is innate in man" (Kandinsky: 26). A long-time correspondence and connection between Kandinsky and the composer Arnold Schoenberg was forged when in January 1911, Kandinsky attended a concert of Schoenberg's music. e works he heard, including Schoenberg's 3 Klavierstücke, op. 11 (1909), profoundly affected him, and he created Impression III (Concert) (Image 5) in reaction. Although it is clearly abstract in style, the black shape of a piano surrounded by audience members can be seen, with its use of color expressing the sounds Kandinsky saw. ART INSPIRED BY MUSIC ART INSPIRED BY MUSIC M usic was a central part of the life of Swiss painter Paul Klee. He was an active orchestral violinist and wrote frequently about music and painting. In particular, he was interested in the idea of time as it pertained to both music and art, and "transferring a linear temporal progression into visual arts" (Fink: 368). One of Klee's favorite composers was Johann Sebastian Bach, whom he considered more modern than any of his own contemporaries. e concept of polyphony became predominant in Klee's theoretical studies and he applied contrapuntal musical techniques such as imitation, mirroring, and inversion to his own art. Klee's watercolor, Fugue in Red (Image 6), demonstrates his application of fugal techniques, using different voices in a "theme and answer" formation; in addition, he uses shis in color to show the passage of time. is particular artwork, in turn, inspired at least four different composers (Roberto García Murillo, Hellmuth Christian Wolff, Tzvi Avni, and Iris Szeghy). Image 5. Wassily Kandinsky, Image 5. Wassily Kandinsky, Impression III (Concert) Impression III (Concert), 1911 (Wikimedia Commons) , 1911 (Wikimedia Commons) Image 6. Paul Klee, Image 6. Paul Klee, Fuge in Rot Fuge in Rot (Fugue in Red) (Fugue in Red), 1921 (Wikimedia Commons) , 1921 (Wikimedia Commons)

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