Deceptively simple and almost childish, this painting is at once: narrative, expressionistic, romantic, fauvist, abstract, symbolic, allegorical… The Cossacks of the title are reduced to cartoon-like blobs of colour and bold use of negative space on the right of the picture, the plume of smoke from the barrage of long rifles on the left is a fiery blood red cloud, the guns of either side bristle from the landscape that seems to be sliding into the valley… At the top, the dynamic forms of two more sabre-wielding Cossacks seem to be carving up the land itself, a confusion of calligraphic lines perhaps represents their slicing or the cross-fire of battle over the rainbow that holds the picture together and forms a bridge between the two sides, both hopeful of a brighter future and an end to hostilities…
It is not a painting of a battle, but a painting of some of the emotions and meanings of a battle, it depicts the violence and confusion, but is also romanticised. In this image, both sides are heroic in their fight for a better future and should instead be united by these hopes and not in conflict. Kandinsky is championing the bravery of the soldiers, whilst condemning war as useless and destructive. At the same time it operates as a representational scene and as an abstract composition of colour and line.
Image of this painting with notes at the Tate website
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