He Had A Love Affair And A Bitter Fallout With Gabriele Munter

In 1892, Wassily Kandinsky married Anna Chimyakina, his cousin. He had known her since he was a child, and she was six years his senior. In 1902, Kandinsky met Gabriele Munter. She had enrolled at Munich's Phalanx art school, where he was lecturing. Kandinsky was 36 years old at the time, while Munter was 25. They became intimate quickly, and their relationship lasted more than ten years. During this time, Kandinsky separated from his first wife, divorced her in 1911, and moved in with Munter in a house she had purchased, as well as getting secretly engaged to her. Munter was also a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter and a significant contemporary artist in her own right.

When World War I broke out, the couple had to flee to Switzerland since Kandinsky was Russian. Kandinsky returned to his native country, while Munter relocated to Stockholm. Kandinsky married Nina Andreevskaya, who was presumably less than 20 years old, in 1917 when he was 51 years old. Their marriage lasted the rest of his life, which was 28 years. Munter didn't find out about Kandinsky's second marriage until three years later. She sued him for the embarrassment caused by the broken engagement, while he demanded the return of his paintings.