Painter and theorist Kandinsky is widely regarded as the father of abstract art, and famously likened painting to composing music. He spent his childhood in Odessa (Ukraine), graduating from Grekov Odessa art school, and then studied law and economics at the University of Moscow. Fascinated by colour symbolism and psychology, at 30 Kandinsky began painting studies, and helped establish the Museum of the Culture of Painting after the 1917 revolution. In 1920 he moved to Germany, and taught at the Bauhaus school. He finally settled in France, producing work in a vivid testament to his credo: ‘music is the ultimate teacher’.