'Abstract Expressionism' is a term describing a general movement of largely non-representational painting. It initially started in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. Led by a generation of American artists, heavily influenced by European settlers who grew up during the Depression and influenced by both World War II and the aftermath of the Cold War. Abstract Expressionism encompassed several quite different styles. These paintings share some characteristics, including the total use of canvas, in which the entire canvas is treated with equal importance. Abstract art expresses ideas that concern the spiritual, the unconscious and the mind. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The painter Wassily Kandinsky was in Munich in January 1911. While there, he went to a concert of music by Arnold Schoenberg, which prompted him to begin writing to Schoenberg. He wrote: "In your work you have achieved what I, even if in an uncertain form, had so longed for in music." Kandinsky was struck by the new atonal compositional method, used by Schönberg, and which did not correspond to the existing rules of harmony. Inspired by this, Kandinsky attempted to break with the traditional figurative modes of painting. When referring to the emotional quality of color, Kandinsky often used musical terminology. The friendship between Kandinsky and Schoenberg was crucial to the development of both artists. They had similar views on the nature and purpose of art. Their collaboration helped them reach their full potential as they inspired each other. One of Kandinsky's many famous quotes is: “Give your ear to music, open your eyes to painting and... stop thinking! Simply ask yourself if the work has allowed you to "walk" in a previously unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?". I intend to answer these questions by comparing Kandinsky's art with Schoenberg's music and analyzing Kandinsky's works and the effect Schoenberg had on them. "Circles in a Circle" is a compact and closed composition. Kandinsky began an in-depth study of the circle as an artistic unit starting from this painting. In his letter to Galka Scheyer wrote: “it is the first painting of mine to bring to the fore the theme of circles”. The outer black circle, as if it were the second frame of an image, encourages us to focus on the interaction between the internal circles, and two intersecting diagonal stripes enhance the effect, adding perspective to the composition the deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him the desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural... The brighter it becomes, the more it loses its sound, until it transforms into silent immobility and become white…. (Kandinsky quote). Kandinsky's paintings would gradually become more and more abstract and with Murnau, The Train and the Castle one can see a stop along the way. Kandinsky painted it in 1909 after traveling through much of Europe and deciding to settle in Murnau, a small town in Bavaria. In this painting, you can see how color plays almost as important a role as the shapes it models, although the shapes here are still clear; the train and castle are both evident, as are various background elements. Kandinsky's artwork and Schoenberg's music share a similar idea. Both abandon the existing rules of music and painting and adopt a new way of expressing themselves. The music becomes so tangible to Kandinsky that he can paint it. Both painting and music were born from the inner need to.