Some see Hitler and Lenin amid his blotches of colour, painted years before they came into power. But one should not analyse the work of Wassily Kandinsky. Just drown in it.

Astonishingly, there has never been a UK exhibition on the Russian credited with painting the first abstract works of modern art - until now. Today 74 of his works go on show at Tate Modern, tracing his journey from law teacher to art heavyweight.

It seemed "completely bizarre" that this was the first display of his paintings, said Tate curator Sean Rainbird. "He's a presence in our lives, but we've never looked at his work in context and in detail."

IMAGE GALLERY

Kandinsky's prints adorn hotels, waiting rooms and students' walls. "He's one of those artists who do well on posters so he's very familiar to people," Rainbird added. "But his paintings are very different things."

Over 90% of the works on show have never been seen in the UK, and are on loan from Russia.

Upside-down inspiration

Kandinsky only came to art at age 30 after two experiences prompted him to give up his job as a law teacher and pursue his dream. When the Russian saw Claude Monet's Haystack in Moscow, he first could not make out what it was. Yet later he struggled to banish the luminous image from his mind.

Shortly after, a performance of Wagner's Lohengrin at the Bolshoi Theatre transported him to another plane. "All my colours were conjured up before my eyes," he gasped. "Wild, almost mad, lines drew themselves before me."

The exhibition charts Kandinsky's path to abstraction in the first two decades of the 20th century - historically far more important than rest of his work.

Legend has it that the idea for abstraction was born when Kandinsky saw one of his own early paintings on its side. Art did not have to resemble life, he realised. Form and colour in itself can express spiritual meaning.

Today we are used to the idea of not asking what something is. We know that it does not have to be anything at all. And when we look back, the jump to abstraction seems inevitable. But it was not that at all.

Kandinsky's journey was slow, laborious and deliberate. He moved around objects and stripped away details until Kossacks, angels and hill towns became kaleidoscopes of diagonal lines and jewel-like colours.

Stop thinking!

For his giant masterpiece Composition VII, Kandinsky made over 30 studies. Yet he painted the final 10ft-wide canvas in less than four days. Standing in front of it, you are sucked into vortex of colour. But when you keep looking, you start recognising some forms - a fish head, a boat, a bird.

Did Kandinsky mean to put them there? Or is it like spotting whales in the clouds?

Wilder speculation by scholars picks out a profile image of Lenin in one painting, and even more unlikely, a portrait of Hitler in the lower left of the huge Composition VI, painted in 1912.

If you asked Kandinsky himself, his answer would have been: Stop thinking! "Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to walk into a hitherto unknown world," he once said. "If the answer is yes, what more do you want?"

Indeed, what more do you want? The Tate's show opens the door to that unknown world. It is unmissable.

  • Kandinsky: The Path to Abstraction, Tate Modern, 22 June to 1 October 2006, tickets £10. Bookings on 020 7887 8888.