They stand for the “nightmare of materialism” that Kandisky’s great abstract works were in part a reaction to. The Kittredges (and Flan in particular) are the kind of art ‘consumers’ Kandinsky despised. Yet, this is a clever – and cleverly deceptive – entry point to both Kandinsky’s work, and his aesthetic theory as set forth in his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art. See below: on the left (and representing chaos) is Painting with Red Spot (1916), on the right (representing order) is Several Circles (1924). In reality, there is no ‘double-sided Kandidnsky’ the piece in the film uses two Kandinskys painted several years apart. It is a neat motif the couple are unaware that Paul himself is the chaos that’s about to disrupt their overly ‘geometric’ lives. The couple take pleasure in Paul’s enthusiasm, with Ousia stressing that each respective side of the painting represents ‘order’ and ‘chaos’, as her husband flips the canvass back and forth. The charlatan has done his homework, and feigns excitement upon seeing the Kittredges’ “double-sided Kandinsky”. The Kittredges are very much a ‘high society’ couple they have taken the apparently injured Paul into their Park Avenue apartment under the impression that he is a friend of the pair’s Ivy League children. In the early stages of the 1993 film adaptation of John Guare’s play The Six Degrees of Separation, we find conman Paul charming his way into the confidences of Flan and Ousia Kittredge.
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