Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian native, has been quite an inspirational artist throughout history. Kandinsky was a pioneer painter of abstract masterpieces. His paintings are on display in many museums around the world, including the infamous Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. .
Wassily Kandinsky was born on December 4, 1866 in Moscow. His father was a successful tea merchant named Vasily Silestrovich, and his mother was a teacher named Lydia Kandinskaia. From early on in his life, Kandinsky acquired a love for travel. His parents moved to Florence in 1869 where the young Kandinsky attended Nursery School. When his father's health began deteriorating in 1871, Wassily and his parents moved back to Russia, this time to the smaller town of Odessa. Shortly after returning to Russia, his parents divorced. During the early years of Kandinsky's life, he discovered a love of color and shape. Kandinsky cherished the watercolors he received from his aunt, and began painting small pictures as early as age five. His parents seemed to be the type of people who would have supported their son's artistic ambitions had he actually had them, but for Kandinsky, painting was only a hobby and not a career. After Kandinsky's parents divorced, Kandinsky lived with his aunt, Elizaveta Tikheeva. He attended high school and took a few art and music classes in addition to the regular curriculum. The cello fascinated Kandinsky; he became quite an excelled cellist and also found a love for playing the piano (Kandinsky, v-x). .
In 1886, Kandinsky attended Moscow University where he studied law and economics. After passing law school and all his exams, Kandinsky went on to pursue a career in teaching at the Moscow Faculty of Law. Kandinsky's career was going in all the right directions until, in 1896, when he decided to start over with a fresh career in art after seeing Monet's painting, The Haystack. Kandinsky soon moved to Munich, Germany where he enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts for four years of learning.