What if the flood is not the end, but the beginning? Kandinsky's Improvisation Deluge pulls us into a world breaking open — surging, luminous, and trembling with new creation. This prayer holds you in the chaos long enough to hear what cannot be washed away.

Psalm 46:2-6

Use this guide for prayer and contemplation. Read slowly, pausing as needed for silence and reflection.

Opening

Let’s prepare ourselves.

Draw in a deep breath… and feel the life God brings you through it.

Then release that breath… This release, too, is a gift of life from God.

Reflection on Contemplative Prayer

Wassily Kandinsky once wrote:

“A painter who finds no satisfaction in mere representation, however artistic, in his longing to express his inner life, cannot but envy the ease with which music, the most non-material of the arts today, achieves this end. He naturally seeks to apply the methods of music to his own art. And from this results that modern desire for rhythm in painting, for mathematical, abstract construction, for repeated notes of colour, for setting colour in motion.”

These words are from Kandinsky’s book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art.

Kandinsky experienced a form of synesthesia, where the senses cross into each other. He experienced color and shape as musical tones and chords—he could hear what he saw.

Kandinsky was also a deeply spiritual man. His images are often about apocalyptic rebirth: an era of chaos that eventually leads to something new. In many of his works he explores the image of the deluge—the biblical flood—where Noah is carried through the storm and eventually comes to rest, watching as the world is reborn. His art depicts the chaos of what is known being destroyed, not as a hopeless end, but as the moment a new and better world is being born.

Artwork for Prayerful Reflection

Improvisational Deluge (1913), Wassily Kandinsky.

As you look at this painting, notice sound and shape; apocalyptic destruction and chaos; and also rebirth and resurrection. But most of all, ask God to help you see—and hear—God’s presence here.

Scripture

Psalm 46:2–6

Therefore, we fear nothing—even if the earth should open up in front of us and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea; even if the earth’s waters rage and foam and the mountains tumble with its heaving. There is a river whose streams gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High. God is in its midst; it will never fail—God will bring it at daybreak. Though nations are in turmoil and empires crumble, God’s voice resounds and it melts the earth.

Let these words be an invitation for the Holy Spirit to be present with you, giving you insight into this painting—and into your own life.

Reflection Questions

What words and phrases did you notice?

Where do you see examples of those words in the painting?

What emotions do you feel as you look?

If you listen for the music of what you see, what does it sound like?

As you notice the words, the emotions, and the music this piece evokes, what might God be saying to you?

What other Scriptures come to mind as you listen for God’s guidance?

How do you sense you should respond to this guidance?

What did you discover God saying to you?

Closing

God, as we look again at the painting, stir something within our spirit. Help us to communicate with you honestly, and to receive your presence.

We remember your promise in Isaiah 43:2: “When you pass through the seas, I will be with you. When you pass over the rivers, you will not drown. Walk through fire and you will not be singed; walk through flames and you will not be burned.”

Though all around you may feel like chaos, and though you may be in deep and unfamiliar waters, do not give up. The deluge will not last forever. Lead us into stillness, and into the new life you are bringing. Amen.