Kochel – Schlehdorf

Kochel – Schlehdorf, painted in 1902 and held at the Lenbachhaus, depicts the area between Kochel am See and the nearby village of Schlehdorf—two locations in the Bavarian lake district that Kandinsky visited repeatedly during his early Munich years. The hyphenated title suggests a view that encompasses the territory between the two places rather than focusing on either settlement itself. This particular stretch of Bavarian landscape, with its lakes, meadows, and Alpine backdrop, would become the defining natural environment of Kandinsky's formative period as a painter.

The between-places viewpoint implies a landscape composition that is less determined by a specific geographical feature than by the atmospheric and chromatic qualities of the terrain. Kandinsky handles the Kochel-area landscape with the directness of plein-air painting, capturing the cool luminosity of the lake district light.