Color as a Medium of Re-Enchantment: Everyday Aesthetics and Spiritual Experience in Kandinsky’s Theory of Color

Color carries psychological and spiritual significance, acting as a universal language that can restore hidden beauty and meaning in everyday life. Drawing on Wassily Kandinsky's text Concerning the Spiritual in Art, the analysis argues that color functions as a medium of spiritual expression, challenging the disenchantment of modern materialism. The study integrates aesthetic theory, philosophy of religion, and art theory to show how color shapes social and spiritual experience beyond high art, offering a framework for revitalizing aesthetic and spiritual experience in contemporary life.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the philosophical role of color in shaping social and spiritual experience, particularly through the aesthetics of everyday life and the abstract art of Wassily Kandinsky. The urgency of this inquiry lies in the need to recover the spiritual dimension of modern life, which has been increasingly diminished by materialistic worldviews. The research employs a qualitative-descriptive approach within a philosophical analytic framework, integrating aesthetic theory, philosophy of religion, and art theory. The data consists of close readings of Kandinsky’s primary text, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, alongside secondary literature on aesthetics and the art-religion relationship. The main findings reveal that color possesses psychological and spiritual resonance, making it a universal language that transcends material form. In everyday life, color restores hidden beauty and meaning, while in Kandinsky’s art, color functions as a medium of spiritual expression that challenges the disenchantment of the modern world. The study’s implications contribute to the discourse in the philosophy of art and religion, offering a new framework for revitalizing aesthetic and spiritual experience in contemporary life. This study’s originality lies in its rare integration of re-enchantment, everyday aesthetics, and Kandinsky’s color theory, collectively highlighting the active role of color in shaping spiritual and social experience beyond the realm of high art.