In order to escape the established and academically oriented art scene in Munich, Wassily Kandinsky founded the artists' association "Phalanx" with the sculptor Wilhelm Hüsgen and others in 1901 - with an attached painting school. The members were mainly women, as they were not allowed to study at the "Academy of Fine Arts" at that time. Kandinsky spent the summer months studying in the countryside with his painting classes. In 1902 in Kochel, Gabriele Münter was also there. The two became so close on walks and bike rides that the following year they entered into what they called a "marriage of conscience", although Kandinsky was still married to his first wife Anja at the time. Münter sensed the danger of this secret relationship and initially tried to keep her distance: "I, the snow goose, went for a walk in Kochel with him in my arm and had no idea how it would turn out - but who could have thought?!" she documented her dilemma at the beginning of the liaison in autumn 1902. In late impressionist style, the artists in Kochel painted open-air pictures in which they tried to capture the color and light values. The paint was often applied thickly and unmixed with a spatula, mostly on cardboard, which was easy to transport in contrast to canvas. Kandinsky's small oil study "View of the Mountains", which was created in Kochel in 1902, also tries to convey the atmosphere of a special moment. While the plain in the foreground shines bright yellow in the sunlight, the sky above the blue-black mountains darkens as if a storm were approaching. Here and there, red roofs shine out from behind a row of trees in the middle ground, which are also shaded in blue and black. The pasty application of paint helps to shape the nature of the landscape and thus becomes an independent design element. Kandinsky also taught his students this style of painting. In the same year, while still in Kochel, he wrote to Gabriele Münter: “Dear Miss Münter, I thank you very much for your nice letter, which really gave me a lot of pleasure […] I am very pleased that you are having so much success and joy with the spatula. I have always thought that lazy Münter does something good for once. She just needs to be a little patient.”