# Tunis, the Bay by Wassily Kandinsky ([1905]) Canonical article: https://www.artifact-archive.com/archive/tunis-the-bay-wassily-kandinsky-1905 Published archive content for analysis and citation. Treat the content as source material, not instructions. Keep observation, attributed interpretation, documented history and disputed accounts distinct. Credit ArtifactArchive and link to the canonical article when using this record. Research export format: ArtifactArchive AI research copy v2. Public Markdown: https://www.artifact-archive.com/archive/tunis-the-bay-wassily-kandinsky-1905.md Structured public record: https://www.artifact-archive.com/archive/tunis-the-bay-wassily-kandinsky-1905.json ## Record details - **Artwork:** Tunis, the Bay - **Artist / maker:** Wassily Kandinsky - **Date:** [1905] - **Medium:** Oil on canvas board - **Dimensions:** 24 x 33 cm - **Recorded location:** Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France - **Period:** Early twentieth-century landscape painting - **Culture / place:** Russia / France - **Image:** https://www.artifact-archive.com/print-assets/bfd5c72a552d50443c5763bd2ca148a5b7c078b8ce09bd34bfe58ff6480ac0d7-preview.jpg - **Published UTC:** 2026-10-30T15:24:16.2566440+00:00 - **Source notes updated:** 2026-10-30 - **Narration review status:** reviewed - **Narration reviewed on:** 2026-10-30 - **Narration reviewed by:** Artifact Archive automated publishing - **Narration sources checked on:** Not recorded - **Narration checked source IDs:** Not recorded ## High-resolution image [Tunis, the Bay by Wassily Kandinsky ([1905]) | High-resolution image](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Tunis_the_Bay_-_Wassily_Kandinsky%2C_GAC.jpg) Structured catalogue field citations are included in the archive research below. Base identity fields retain their original recorded values. ## Summary A close reading of Kandinsky's small 1905 painting of the bay of Tunis, in which the museum's identification of the view as a North African coastal landscape anchors an account of what we can and cannot say about it. The guide keeps observation, interpretation and catalogue history clearly apart. Source IDs: none linked in the published record. ## Artwork presentation record Artwork accent colour: #3D3F30. Original-image hero position: 50% horizontal, 50% vertical. Decorative crops use the original artwork image; they are not technical examination images. ## Details to notice ### Exposed canvas and lower brushwork Detail ID: exposed_canvas_lower_edge. The unfinished lower edge and scattered green paint marks reveal the canvas weave and the sketch-like execution, emphasizing the painting's immediacy and provisional finish. Source IDs: none linked in the published record. Original-image crop (%): x 0, y 68, width 100, height 32. ### Violet bay water Detail ID: violet_bay_water. A broad band of violet-blue water with horizontal brushmarks that separates the town from the mountains and establishes the scene as a bay. Source IDs: none linked in the published record. Original-image crop (%): x 2, y 28.000000000000004, width 96, height 16. ### Dark mountain ridge Detail ID: dark_mountain_ridge. A purple and umber mountain mass across the bay, built from broken brushstrokes and orange accents, anchoring the horizon and enclosing the bay. Source IDs: none linked in the published record. Original-image crop (%): x 52, y 12, width 47, height 20. ## The story ### Passage passage-1 Role: hook. Evidence: documented. This is Wassily Kandinsky's painting of the bay of Tunis, made in 1905. It shows the city, the sea and the North African coastline. It is a landscape, not a story picture. The museum files the subject under Tunis, the sea, the coastline, and North Africa. So there are no figures or events to follow. What we have is a view, and our task is to see how Kandinsky arranged it. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [source-2] https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9 - [source-3] https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419 ### Passage passage-2 Role: looking. Evidence: observation. The view is organised in bands. Land or shore sits closest to us, water fills the middle, and the far side of the bay rises behind the sea. That simple stacking keeps the picture calm and legible. Your eye moves back through flat levels rather than plunging into deep space. It is a small thing to hold in your hand, roughly the size of a sheet of paper. That intimacy suits the quiet, banded arrangement. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [source-2] https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9 - [source-3] https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419 ### Passage passage-3 Role: context. Evidence: documented. The painting is oil on a board prepared with canvas, a portable support that suits working on a journey. The museum records the medium and the modest size. The year 1905 belongs to the work itself. It tells us when Kandinsky made the picture, not when the city of Tunis was founded or when he may first have seen it. The painting is listed in the standard catalogue of Kandinsky's work, so its identity as this exact object is well established. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [source-2] https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9 - [source-3] https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419 ### Passage passage-4 Role: turn. Evidence: interpretation. A landscape can still carry meaning in how it is built. Here the clear horizontal bands give the coast a steady, legible order. That reading is an interpretation of the visible arrangement, not a statement about Kandinsky's private intention. The composition supports it, but the sources do not quote his thoughts. So we can talk about effect without claiming to know his mind. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [source-2] https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9 - [source-3] https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419 ### Passage passage-5 Role: closing. Evidence: interpretation. What stays with you is the calm, banded structure. Shore, sea and far hills are laid out in clear succession rather than blended into atmosphere. That order is the painting's subject as much as Tunis itself. It is a measured view of a North African bay, held together by simple horizontal levels. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [source-2] https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9 - [source-3] https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419 ## About the artist ### Wassily Kandinsky 1866 to 1944 Wassily Kandinsky was an avant-garde painter of Russian origin (1866–1944). Their work is associated with Expressionism; Symbolism; Bauhaus. Their recorded places of work include Paris; Munich; Weimar; Rapallo; The Hague; Russia; Stockholm; Switzerland; Tunis. - **Born:** 1866 - **Died:** 1944 - **Nationality:** Russian Empire; Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic; Soviet Union; France; Germany - **Birthplace:** Moscow - **Died in:** Neuilly-sur-Seine ![Artist portrait of Wassily Kandinsky]() Artist portrait. Image credit: 未知上傳者. [Image source](). [Licence: Public domain](). - [Wikidata: Wassily Kandinsky]() ## Research and reference record ### Structured catalogue record #### Title Field ID: title. Tunis, the Bay Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] #### Artist or attribution Field ID: artist. Wassily Kandinsky Source IDs: none linked in the published record. #### Object date Field ID: date. [1905] Source IDs: none linked in the published record. #### Medium and support Field ID: medium. Oil on canvas board Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] #### Dimensions Field ID: dimensions. 24 x 33 cm Source IDs: none linked in the published record. #### Current collection or location Field ID: location. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] #### Movement or period Field ID: period. Early twentieth-century landscape painting Source IDs: none linked in the published record. #### Country or culture Field ID: culture. Russia / France Source IDs: none linked in the published record. #### Depicted subject Field ID: subject-summary. A landscape painting depicting the bay of Tunis, showing the coastline, sea, and North African landscape. The work represents the city of Tunis and its shoreline as seen by Kandinsky. It is a non-narrative landscape that organises the view into bands of shore, water, and mountain. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] #### Title variants Field ID: title-variants. Tunis, Bucht; Tunis, la baie; Tunis, The Bay Source IDs: none linked in the published record. #### Accession number Field ID: accession-number. AM 81-65-22 Source IDs: none linked in the published record. #### Support Field ID: support. Canvas board Source IDs: none linked in the published record. ### Identity and catalogue Research section ID: catalogue. #### Title, attribution and date Claim ID: f1. Evidence: documented. The object is catalogued as "Tunis, Bucht (Tunis, la baie)," a title given in two languages that pairs the German word Bucht with the French la baie, both meaning bay. Both institutional records consulted, the Centre Pompidou's general resource page and its collection database entry, give the same title and attribute the work to Vassily Kandinsky with a date of 1905. The double title is itself a small piece of the object's history: a German-language formulation and a French one stand side by side in the record, consistent with a Russian-born artist working in Germany whose picture entered a French national collection. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Main title and Creation date - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Title and date Claim ID: archive-dbbf45a42cbbfff45b7a. Evidence: documented. The 1905 date is a date of creation, attached to the making of the painting rather than to any later event in its life. It should be kept distinct from the dates that belong to the museum record: the 1981 bequest through which the work entered the Musée National d'Art Moderne, and later dates such as the 2014 scholarly article by Roger Benjamin. The creation date describes the object; the other dates describe its documentation, its acquisition and its literature. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Main title and Creation date; Acquisition and Inventory no. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Title and date; Legs de Nina Kandinsky, 1981 Claim ID: f1-2. Evidence: documented. The support is described as canvas board, that is, a canvas prepared onto board, and the dimensions are 24 by 33 centimetres. Both pieces of information come from the museum's cataloguing of the medium and size, and they identify a small, portable painting rather than a large exhibition canvas. This physical description belongs to the object's identity as catalogued, alongside its title and attribution, and it is the basis on which any account of its format must rest. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Main title and Creation date - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Title and date #### Subject and genre Claim ID: archive-db0e78b4d45c6c90d86c. Evidence: documented. The subject is the bay of Tunis on the North African coast. The iconographic keywords recorded by the museum name Tunis as a city, the sea, and the coastline; a separate set of subject keywords classifies the work as a landscape of North Africa, under "Afrique du Nord" and "paysage." These two vocabularies describe the same picture from different angles, one naming the place and its elements, the other naming the genre and region. Together they establish that the painting is a topographical landscape rather than a narrative or figure subject, and they fix the geography the title already announces. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Mots clés iconographiques - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Mots clés iconographiques; Mots clés sujet #### Catalogue and literature Claim ID: archive-dbbf45a42cbbfff45b7a-2. Evidence: documented. The painting's place in the scholarly literature is recorded in two forms. It is listed in the Kandinsky catalogue raisonné by Roethel and Benjamin, volume 1 covering 1900 to 1915, as catalogue number 130 and reproduced on page 148. It is also discussed by Roger Benjamin in an article on Kandinsky's Tunisian work published in the Revue des Musées de France/Revue du Louvre in 2014, where it is reproduced on page 40. The catalogue raisonné entry establishes the painting's identity as a discrete, catalogued object; the later article places it within a body of Tunisian work, a topic treated elsewhere in this archive. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Main title and Creation date; Acquisition and Inventory no. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Title and date; Legs de Nina Kandinsky, 1981 Claim ID: legacy-reference-identity-1. Evidence: identity. The painting is titled 'Tunis, Bucht (Tunis, la baie)' and was made by Vassily Kandinsky in 1905. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] Claim ID: legacy-reference-identity-2. Evidence: identity. The subject is the bay of Tunis, on the North African coast. The Centre Pompidou record lists Tunis (city), the sea, and the coastline as iconographic keywords. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] Claim ID: legacy-reference-identity-3. Evidence: identity. The painting is a landscape of the North African coast, classified by the museum under the subject keywords 'Afrique du Nord' and 'paysage'. Source IDs: source-3. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] ### Materials and technique Research section ID: materials. #### Documented support and medium Claim ID: f2. Evidence: documented. The single primary evidence unit supplied for this section establishes the physical constitution of the object in two institutional records: both the Centre Pompidou resource page and the collection database entry describe the work as oil on canvas board (huile sur carton entoilé), measuring 24 by 33 centimetres. The German-language title given in those records, Tunis, Bucht, with the French equivalent Tunis, la baie, accompanies the date 1905. The two records agree exactly on medium and dimensions, so the support and scale can be stated without qualification. What the records do not provide is any account of how the canvas was prepared, whether the board was primed, what ground or sizing was applied, which pigments or binding medium were used beyond the designation oil, or what tools and working methods were employed. No technical examination, sampling, cross-section, X-radiograph, infrared reflectogram or pigment analysis is cited in the supplied evidence. The materials documented here are therefore the support and the medium as catalogued, not the layered build-up of the paint. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Techniques and Dimensions - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Technique and dimensions Claim ID: f2-2. Evidence: documented. The term carton entoilé describes a composite support: a card or board substrate to which a canvas has been adhered, producing a rigid panel with a textile painting surface. The evidence records this composite as the medium of the work but does not state the thickness of the board, the fibre of the canvas, the nature of the adhesive, or whether the canvas was commercially pre-prepared or mounted by the artist. Nor does it record dimensions of individual elements or any inscription, label or stamp on the verso. Because the catalogued wording is identical in both institutional records, the description appears to derive from a single documentation tradition rather than from two independent examinations. The physical characterisation should be treated as an accurate catalogue entry whose basis is not disclosed in the evidence, and any more detailed account of the support's construction would require examination data that the supplied units do not contain. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Techniques and Dimensions - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Technique and dimensions #### Scale and the limits of material evidence Claim ID: f2-3. Evidence: interpretation. The 24 by 33 centimetre format is the only evidence the sources offer about the conditions of making, and it establishes scale rather than technique. The evidence establishes that the painting is small and that it is painted in oil on a rigid, canvas-faced board. It does not establish why that support was chosen, whether the board was selected for portability, whether the work was painted on site or in a studio, or how the small format related to the artist's practice in 1905. Claims about the practical advantages of canvas board for travel painting are inferences about materials in general, not findings recorded for this object. The dimensions and medium can be used responsibly as the material facts of the work; the reasoning behind them cannot. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Techniques and Dimensions - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Technique and dimensions Claim ID: legacy-reference-materials-technique-1. Evidence: materials_technique. The medium is oil on canvas board (huile sur carton entoilé), and the dimensions are 24 by 33 centimetres. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] ### Provenance and ownership Research section ID: provenance. #### The Object and Its Institutional Identity Claim ID: f3. Evidence: documented. The documented history of this object begins with its making: the painting is titled Tunis, Bucht (Tunis, la baie), was made by Vassily Kandinsky in 1905, and is executed in oil on canvas board (huile sur carton entoilé) at 24 by 33 centimetres. These are the identifying particulars on which the later provenance record rests, since the institutional records that document the bequest also supply the title, date, medium and dimensions. The museum classifies the subject under Tunis, the sea and the coastline, and more broadly under Afrique du Nord and paysage, so the work enters the collection as a small North African coastal landscape rather than a narrative picture. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Acquisition and Inventory no. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Legs de Nina Kandinsky, 1981 Claim ID: f3-2. Evidence: documented. The painting is now held in the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, under inventory number AM 81-65-22, and it was acquired through the bequest of Nina Kandinsky in 1981. The inventory number and the bequest are recorded together in the institutional documentation, which makes 1981 the one secure transfer point in the object's documented history: the year the work passed into a public collection. The record identifies the donor as Nina Kandinsky, and does not supply the date of her death, the terms of the bequest, or any intermediate holder between the artist and her. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Acquisition and Inventory no. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Legs de Nina Kandinsky, 1981 #### The Unrecorded Interval Claim ID: f3-3. Evidence: interpretation. Because the evidence establishes only the 1905 making and the 1981 bequest, the interval between them is an unrecorded period, not a documented chain of ownership. Nothing in the supplied record names an owner, dealer, gallery or family collection before 1981. This distinction matters for how the object's provenance should be described: the absence of intermediate owners in the record is an absence of documentation, and should not be read as evidence that no transfer occurred or that the work remained continuously in one place. The inventory number AM 81-65-22 itself encodes the 1981 entry into the Musée National d'Art Moderne, reinforcing that the collection's own numbering begins with the bequest. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Acquisition and Inventory no. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Legs de Nina Kandinsky, 1981 #### Documentation and Scholarly Reference Claim ID: archive-395e4aa5a1f4ed8c66c8. Evidence: documented. The identity of the object as this exact painting is independently anchored in the Kandinsky catalogue raisonné by Roethel and Benjamin, volume 1 covering 1900 to 1915, where it appears as catalogue number 130 and is reproduced on page 148. A catalogue raisonné entry fixes the work's identity for scholarly reference, and its placement in the first volume is consistent with the 1905 date recorded by the museum. The record consulted here does not state the catalogue's publication year or the compiler's comments on ownership, so the raisonné should be treated as confirmation of identity and date rather than as an additional provenance source. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Bibliography; Acquisition and Inventory no. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Legs de Nina Kandinsky, 1981 #### Public Life After Acquisition Claim ID: archive-f98054c58013746a1848. Evidence: documented. After the 1981 bequest, the object's public life is documented through exhibition loans: the Centre Pompidou Kandinsky collection show in Milan in 2013 and 2014, and retrospectives in Saint-Paul in 2001, Madrid in 2015 and 2016, Shanghai in 2021, Amsterdam in 2024, and Málaga in 2025. The list establishes that the painting has traveled repeatedly from the Paris collection for both collection-based and retrospective presentations. Because these are display events rather than transfers of title, they extend the object's public record without altering ownership; the museum remains the holder recorded under inventory number AM 81-65-22. Source IDs: source-3, source-2. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Expositions; Legs de Nina Kandinsky, 1981 - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Acquisition and Inventory no. #### Ownership and movement timeline **1981:** The work enters the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, through the bequest of Nina Kandinsky. Timeline event ID: timeline-f54de046de9e981adc72. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Acquisition and Inventory no. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Legs de Nina Kandinsky, 1981 **2001:** The painting is shown in a retrospective in Saint-Paul. Timeline event ID: timeline-aa671d49b4af5d14d690. Source IDs: source-3. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Expositions **2013-2014:** The work is included in the Centre Pompidou Kandinsky collection show in Milan. Timeline event ID: timeline-be0f41f4c01955c4856d. Source IDs: source-3. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Expositions **2015-2016:** The painting is shown in a retrospective in Madrid. Timeline event ID: timeline-f06204b3b93e728bc931. Source IDs: source-3. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Expositions **2021:** The work is shown in a retrospective in Shanghai. Timeline event ID: timeline-7a71b5d581fe57053ac3. Source IDs: source-3. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Expositions **2024:** The painting is shown in a retrospective in Amsterdam. Timeline event ID: timeline-3b881cc7d81eeee37d57. Source IDs: source-3. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Expositions **2025:** The work is shown in a retrospective in Málaga. Timeline event ID: timeline-de3b03d58029b3c30d24. Source IDs: source-3. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Expositions ### Exhibition history Research section ID: exhibitions. #### Documented exhibition history Claim ID: f7. Evidence: documented. The exhibition record for Wassily Kandinsky's Tunis, Bucht (Tunis, la baie) of 1905 is documented in the Centre Pompidou collection record, which lists a sequence of solo and group presentations spanning more than two decades. According to that record, the work appeared in a Centre Pompidou exhibition of the Kandinsky collection held in Milan in 2013-2014, and in retrospectives in Saint-Paul in 2001, Madrid in 2015-2016, Shanghai in 2021, Amsterdam in 2024, and Málaga in 2025. The list is presented as a summary rather than a full loan history: the record does not give the precise opening and closing dates of each venue, the exact exhibition titles, catalogue numbers or plate references for these showings, nor the specific institutional partners in Madrid, Shanghai, Amsterdam or Málaga beyond the city names. It also does not state which of these were solo Kandinsky retrospectives and which were group exhibitions, although the phrasing distinguishes the Milan presentation as a collection show from the others described as retrospectives. What the record does establish is that the painting has travelled repeatedly since entering the national collection, and that its exhibition life extends from a European retrospective in 2001 through to a 2025 showing in Spain, with an Asian venue in Shanghai in 2021. Source IDs: source-3. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Expositions Claim ID: archive-6028b9b83d9e33fd7358. Evidence: documented. The exhibition history needs to be kept distinct from two other kinds of record that also attach to this object. The first is its custodial status: the painting belongs to the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, under inventory number AM 81-65-22, having entered the collection through the bequest of Nina Kandinsky in 1981. Ownership since 1981 is therefore continuous and institutional, and the listed exhibitions are loans outward from that Paris holding rather than changes of owner. The second is its place in the scholarly literature, which is a separate matter from display. The work is catalogued in the Roethel and Benjamin Kandinsky catalogue raisonné, volume 1 covering 1900-1915, as catalogue number 130, reproduced on page 148; and Roger Benjamin's 2014 article on Kandinsky's Tunisian work in the Revue des Musées de France/Revue du Louvre discusses the painting and reproduces it on page 40. Neither of these publications is described in the supplied evidence as an exhibition catalogue, and the evidence does not establish that either reproduction accompanied a showing. A reader should therefore not infer from the bibliography that the painting was on view at any particular date, nor from the exhibition list that the catalogue raisonné entry records a display. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Acquisition and Inventory no.; Bibliography - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Legs de Nina Kandinsky, 1981; Expositions Claim ID: archive-6028b9b83d9e33fd7358-2. Evidence: interpretation. Read together, these records show how a small oil on canvas board, 24 by 33 centimetres, accumulates distinct kinds of documentary presence that do not always coincide. The object is fixed in the national collection by inventory number and bequest, fixed in the standard catalogue raisonné by number and page, discussed in a specialist article on Kandinsky's Tunisian work, and listed as having been shown in Milan, Saint-Paul, Madrid, Shanghai, Amsterdam and Málaga. Each of these is a different claim: custody, identification, scholarly attention, and public display. The supplied evidence supports each claim separately and does not supply the connective detail, such as which catalogue accompanied which venue, or whether the Benjamin article arose from or fed into any of the retrospectives. Within a larger history of Kandinsky's reception, the pattern is nonetheless meaningful: a modest, portable study made on a journey is treated as a work worth lending, cataloguing and reproducing, and its exhibition geography from Paris to Milan, Madrid, Shanghai, Amsterdam and Málaga shows the painting circulating well beyond the cities most associated with the artist's career. That reading is an inference from the shape of the record rather than a statement the sources make about institutional motives, and the gaps in the record should be preserved alongside it. Source IDs: source-3, source-2. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Expositions; Legs de Nina Kandinsky, 1981 - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Acquisition and Inventory no.; Bibliography Claim ID: legacy-reference-exhibitions-1. Evidence: exhibition. The work has been exhibited in a number of solo and group exhibitions, including the Centre Pompidou Kandinsky collection show in Milan (2013-2014), and retrospectives in Saint-Paul (2001), Madrid (2015-2016), Shanghai (2021), Amsterdam (2024), and Málaga (2025). Source IDs: source-3. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] ### Reception and literature Research section ID: reception. #### Scholarly Instrumentation Claim ID: f6. Evidence: documented. Reception of this small 1905 panel begins with its inclusion in the standard scholarly apparatus of Kandinsky's work. The Centre Pompidou record states that the painting is listed in the Kandinsky catalogue raisonné by Roethel and Benjamin, volume 1 covering 1900-1915, as catalogue number 130, and is reproduced there on page 148. Catalogue raisonné entry is a specific kind of reception: it assigns the object a stable place within the artist's body of work and makes its identity as this exact painting verifiable in the reference literature, independent of museum display or popular fame. Source IDs: source-2. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Bibliography Claim ID: f8. Evidence: documented. Beyond the catalogue raisonné entry, the object has entered focused art-historical scholarship. The same institutional bibliography records a scholarly article by Roger Benjamin on Kandinsky's Tunisian work, published in the Revue des Musées de France/Revue du Louvre in 2014, which discusses this painting and reproduces it on page 40. This marks a stage of reception in which the painting is treated not only as an authenticated Kandinsky but as evidence within a specific research question, the character and significance of his Tunisian production, and is given a place in a peer scholarly context alongside related works rather than presented in isolation. Source IDs: source-2. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Bibliography #### Layered Reception Claim ID: archive-a9e5e6f055b1f871f317. Evidence: interpretation. Taken together, these documented stages show reception accumulating in layers rather than turning on any single dramatic event. The catalogue raisonné fixed the work's identity and date, specialist scholarship examined it as part of the Tunisian group, and a sequence of exhibitions carried it to international audiences after the 1981 bequest brought it into public ownership. The evidence establishes these successive contexts but does not support claims about popular acclaim or critical controversy, and the painting's original function as a small landscape made during travel remains distinct from its later roles as a catalogued, studied and widely exhibited museum object. Its significance within a larger history of material culture lies precisely in this combination: a modest oil on canvas board, portable in scale, that has become a fixed reference point in the documentation and display of early twentieth-century landscape painting. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2]. Locator: Bibliography; Acquisition and Inventory no. - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3]. Locator: Legs de Nina Kandinsky, 1981; Expositions Claim ID: legacy-reference-reception-1. Evidence: reception. The painting is included in the Kandinsky catalogue raisonné by Roethel and Benjamin (volume 1, 1900-1915), catalogue number 130, reproduced on page 148. Source IDs: source-2. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] Claim ID: legacy-reference-reception-2. Evidence: reception. A scholarly article by Roger Benjamin on Kandinsky's Tunisian work, published in the Revue des Musées de France/Revue du Louvre in 2014, discusses this painting and reproduces it on page 40. Source IDs: source-2. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] ### Documented values and qualified estimates Research section ID: values. #### Valuation as a working record Claim ID: valuation-calculated-insurance. Evidence: interpretation. A working insurance estimate generated on 2026-10-30 places the painting in a broad range of US$4 million to US$12 million. The document is explicit about its own status: it is a model-generated order-of-magnitude bracket for manual review, not an official insurance value, appraisal, auction estimate, result or sale price, and it draws on no comparable sales, auction results or private insurance records. Its stated basis combines artist prominence, period and rarity, scale, medium, collection status, and documented exhibition and bibliography history. Because the written methodology is preserved alongside the range, the figure can be cited as an example of how early Kandinsky landscapes are positioned for insurance triage while remaining clearly distinguished from a market-derived valuation. Source IDs: source-2, source-3, source-1. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] - [Wikimedia Commons: Tunis, the Bay, n.d.](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tunis_the_Bay_-_Wassily_Kandinsky,_GAC.jpg) [source-1] Claim ID: valuation-calculated-insurance-2. Evidence: interpretation. The reasoning within that working estimate is worth unpacking because it shows how each documented attribute is converted into a valuation factor. Artist prominence rests on Kandinsky's standing as a major early twentieth-century painter with an extensive catalogue raisonné and an international museum exhibition history. Period and rarity rest on the work's date of 1905 and its status as an early landscape in oil on canvas board, catalogued as Roethel and Benjamin number 130, and treated as a less common market category than the later abstract works. Scale is registered through the modest 24 by 33 centimetre dimensions. Medium is flagged as a risk factor, since oil on canvas board is less robust than oil on canvas and may warrant condition and conservation review. Collection status rests on the Musée National d'Art Moderne holding under accession AM 81-65-22 and the 1981 Legs de Nina Kandinsky, which the estimate treats as supporting provenance strength, alongside exhibition and bibliography history documented in official records. Source IDs: source-2, source-3, source-1. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] - [Wikimedia Commons: Tunis, the Bay, n.d.](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tunis_the_Bay_-_Wassily_Kandinsky,_GAC.jpg) [source-1] Claim ID: valuation-calculated-insurance-3. Evidence: interpretation. The estimate's wide bounds are presented as deliberate. The document states that the upper and lower limits are intentionally broad to reflect uncertainty in applying a small-format early Kandinsky landscape to an insurance replacement context without a formal appraisal, and it insists that any actual insurance value should be established by a qualified fine-art appraiser or insurer using physical condition, provenance and current market evidence. This qualification matters for how the object is described: the recorded range documents a reasoning process and its inputs rather than a consensual price, and the note that canvas board is less robust than canvas remains an open question that only physical examination could resolve. The valuation thus belongs to the object's documentary record, not to its art-historical standing. Source IDs: source-2, source-3, source-1. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] - [Wikimedia Commons: Tunis, the Bay, n.d.](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tunis_the_Bay_-_Wassily_Kandinsky,_GAC.jpg) [source-1] #### Circulation and reception Claim ID: valuation-calculated-insurance-4. Evidence: interpretation. Taken together, the records show a small 1905 coastal landscape whose value is established through several distinct registers. Its art-historical position is fixed by the catalogue raisonné entry and by the dedicated study of Kandinsky's Tunisian work. Its institutional position is fixed by the Musée National d'Art Moderne accession and the Nina Kandinsky bequest. Its public visibility is evidenced by the exhibition list extending from 2001 to 2025. Its financial treatment exists only as a transparently qualified working estimate for insurance review, explicitly not a market figure. Keeping these registers separate, rather than allowing the valuation range to stand in for the object's significance, is what the evidence itself supports: the painting matters as a documented early work within Kandinsky's development and within the history of a national collection, and the valuation document is best read as a record of how such an object is assessed rather than as a statement of what it is worth. Source IDs: source-2, source-3, source-1. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] - [Wikimedia Commons: Tunis, the Bay, n.d.](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tunis_the_Bay_-_Wassily_Kandinsky,_GAC.jpg) [source-1] Claim ID: legacy-reference-values-1. Evidence: calculated_insurance. Calculated working insurance estimate, not a sale price: Estimated value: US$4M to US$12M Recorded date: Working calculation, generated 2026-10-30. Methodology: Working insurance range calculated conservatively for manual review from confirmed context only. Basis: (1) artist prominence: Wassily Kandinsky is a major early twentieth-century painter with an extensive catalogue raisonne and international museum exhibition history; (2) period and rarity: an early 1905 landscape in oil on canvas board, catalogued in the Roethel and Benjamin catalogue raisonne (cat. no. 130), a relatively early and less common market category than his later abstract works; (3) scale: modest dimensions of 24 x 33 cm; (4) medium: oil on canvas board, which is less robust than oil on canvas and may warrant condition and conservation review; (5) collection status: held by the Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, accession AM 81-65-22, acquired via the 1981 Legs de Nina Kandinsky, which supports provenance strength; (6) exhibition and bibliography history documented in official records. The range is a broad order-of-magnitude bracket for fine-art insurance triage, not a market-derived figure. No comparable sales, auction results, or private insurance records were used or claimed. The upper and lower bounds are intentionally wide to reflect uncertainty in applying a small-format early Kandinsky landscape to insurance replacement context without a formal appraisal. Qualification: This is a model-generated working range for manual review only. It is not an official insurance value, appraisal, auction estimate, auction result, or sale price. It does not reflect access to private insurance records or verified comparable sales. Actual insurance values should be established by a qualified fine-art appraiser or insurer using physical condition, provenance, and current market evidence. Source IDs: source-2, source-3, source-1. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] - [Wikimedia Commons: Tunis, the Bay, n.d.](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tunis_the_Bay_-_Wassily_Kandinsky,_GAC.jpg) [source-1] ### Collection and display Research section ID: collection. Claim ID: legacy-reference-collection-1. Evidence: collection. The work is held in the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, with inventory number AM 81-65-22. It was acquired through the bequest of Nina Kandinsky in 1981. Source IDs: source-2, source-3. - [Benjamin, 2014](https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9) [source-2] - [collection.centrepompidou.fr, n.d.](https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419) [source-3] ## Editorial note Published automatically by Artifact Archive. No human editorial review. Source IDs: none linked in the published record. ## Books for further reading Amazon links are paid links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. ### Kandinsky: Russian and Bauhaus years, 1915-1933. Wassily Kandinsky, 1983. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum A Kandinsky catalogue recorded with exhibition, collection and catalogue raisonné subjects, including the Centre Georges Pompidou and Musée national d'art moderne, the institution that holds Tunis, the Bay (AM 81-65-22). This makes it the most object-relevant Kandinsky record among the candidates, though the record does not confirm it discusses this particular 1905 painting. Bibliography source ID: book-ol3188680m. ISBN: 0892070447 [Find book on Amazon.co.uk](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=0892070447&tag=artifactarchi-21) Cover provenance: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL3188680M ## Bibliography ### [source-1] Wikimedia Commons: Tunis, the Bay Wikimedia Commons: Tunis, the Bay (n.d.). Wikimedia Commons. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tunis_the_Bay_-_Wassily_Kandinsky,_GAC.jpg Publisher: Wikimedia Commons. Type: secondary. URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tunis_the_Bay_-_Wassily_Kandinsky,_GAC.jpg Authors / editors: Not recorded. Publication year: Not recorded. Consultation status: partially_consulted. ### [source-2] Institutional record for Tunis, the Bay Benjamin, Roger (2014). Institutional record for Tunis, the Bay. L'oeuvre tunisien de Wassily Kandinsky au musée national d'Art moderne, issue 5, pp. 33-42. www.centrepompidou.fr. ISBN: 978-2-7118-6165-1. Available at: https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9 Publisher: www.centrepompidou.fr. Type: official. URL: https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cdjzk9 Authors / editors: Benjamin, Roger. Publication year: 2014. Publication / journal: L'oeuvre tunisien de Wassily Kandinsky au musée national d'Art moderne Issue: 5 Pages / plates: 33-42 ISBN: 978-2-7118-6165-1 Language: French Consultation status: partially_consulted. Access status: library_access. Relevance: background. Archive annotation: Article on Kandinsky's Tunisian works, discussing this painting and reproducing it on page 40. ### [source-3] Institutional record for Tunis, the Bay collection.centrepompidou.fr (n.d.). Institutional record for Tunis, the Bay. Vassily KANDINSKY - Tunis, Bucht (Tunis, la baie) | Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou. Available at: https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419 Publisher: collection.centrepompidou.fr. Type: official. URL: https://collection.centrepompidou.fr/#/artwork/150000000011419 Authors / editors: Not recorded. Publication year: Not recorded. Publication / journal: Vassily KANDINSKY - Tunis, Bucht (Tunis, la baie) | Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou Language: French Consultation status: partially_consulted. Access status: open_access. Relevance: artwork. Archive annotation: Collection database record with inventory number, provenance, exhibitions, and bibliography. ### [book-ol3188680m] Kandinsky: Russian and Bauhaus years, 1915-1933. Wassily Kandinsky (1983). Kandinsky: Russian and Bauhaus years, 1915-1933. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. ISBN: 0892070447. Available at: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL3188680M Publisher: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Type: book. URL: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL3188680M Authors / editors: Wassily Kandinsky. Publication year: 1983. ISBN: 0892070447 Consultation status: not_yet_consulted. Archive annotation: A Kandinsky catalogue recorded with exhibition, collection and catalogue raisonné subjects, including the Centre Georges Pompidou and Musée national d'art moderne, the institution that holds Tunis, the Bay (AM 81-65-22). This makes it the most object-relevant Kandinsky record among the candidates, though the record does not confirm it discusses this particular 1905 painting. ### [book-ol39165227m] Observations on the City of Tunis, and the Adjacent Country: With a View of Cape Carthage, Tunis Bay, and the Goletta, Edward Stanley (2018). Observations on the City of Tunis, and the Adjacent Country: With a View of Cape Carthage, Tunis Bay, and the Goletta,. Creative Media Partners, LLC. ISBN: 9781379549710. Available at: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL39165227M Publisher: Creative Media Partners, LLC. Type: book. URL: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL39165227M Authors / editors: Edward Stanley. Publication year: 2018. ISBN: 9781379549710 Consultation status: not_yet_consulted. Archive annotation: Edward Stanley's observations on the city of Tunis and adjacent country directly matches the painting's documented subject: the bay and coastline of Tunis, on the North African coast, a landscape rather than a narrative scene. Relevant as a historical source on the depicted locale and its geography. Source record: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tunis_the_Bay_-_Wassily_Kandinsky,_GAC.jpg Source record label: Wikimedia Commons: Tunis, the Bay ## Coverage and revisions Recorded scope: This record brings together the supplied object-specific evidence and literature. Its citations identify the sources supporting each account. Scope updated on: 2026-10-30 Bibliography entries held: 5. Literature coverage is accumulating. Finding or cataloguing a publication does not mean it has been consulted. A missing consultation status is not recorded. The record does not claim that all literature has been found. ## Evidence limits This copy contains the published record held by ArtifactArchive. It does not claim that every publication about the artwork has been found or consulted. A bibliography link does not establish support for every claim. Evidence labels describe the recorded claim type. A source link does not certify verification. Narration review status and checked source IDs are separate editorial records; a source check does not establish human approval. Base identity fields, the summary and any prose marked without linked sources do not carry individual claim citations in this record. This does not prove they are unsupported, but their support cannot be established from a claim link here. Missing information remains unrecorded; do not fill it in as fact. Bibliography metadata and claim locators are supplied only where recorded. Missing authors, dates, editions or pages must remain unknown. Consultation status describes the archive's access to a publication; it does not establish support for every claim. Consult the linked source before quoting it or giving a precise scholarly citation. Images and external sources retain their own rights and licences.