Improvisation 23 "Cathedral"

The three main elements in Western music are harmony, rhythm, and melody. Usually when I improvise, I focus almost exclusively on melody. The accompanying rhythm and harmony are both generated from their interaction with the melody. For this improvisation, I focused almost completely on harmony. What little melody, texture, and rhythm emerges from this exercise is primarily a result of the chord changes. Occasionally I use a melodic note to pivot from one chord to another (say, the seventh of a C#7 to a Cmaj7).
The painter featured here is Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980), a German painter very much indebted to the Expressionist style of art at the time. But succinctly, expressionism sought to "express" the innermost feelings of the artist rather than literally depict the outside world. If you are interested in more of his work, I would recommend taking a look through the Kokoschka Foundation's catalogue, which is linked below. Oskar Kokoschka also has some very interesting ties with one of the wives of a great late-Romantic composer. There'll be a quiz on that coming up soon.
If you enjoy my work, please share it with others!
Paintings by Oskar Kokoschka (in order of appearance):
"London, Blick auf die City mit St. Paul's Cathedral" (1970)
"Köln, Blick vom Messeturm" (1956)
"New York, Manhattan mit dem Empire State Building" (1966)
"Der Kölner Dom (Innenansicht)" (1956)
Katharina Erling and Walter Feilchenfeldt: Oskar Kokoschka. Die Gemälde Online (www.oskar-kokoschka.ch/de/102..., edited by the Fondation Oskar Kokoschka, Vevey