Folklore and inner world, hints of Bavarian symbolic Expressionism / Kandinsky’s leadership, art possessed a mystic function / Language of spiritual liberation / Publication of Almanach Der Blaue Reiter, 1912, vehicle for disseminating aesthetic ideas / Openness to international trends: Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism / Spiritual values as opposed to materialism of the period / Influence of simplicity and naivety of popular traditions, Bavarian painting on glass and Russian art / Musical sense of color / Interest in conveying maximum expressiveness / Shift towards increasingly abstract stances.