Kandinsky is generally credited as the pioneer of abstract art. Wassily Kandinsky was an active participant in the most influential art movements of the 20th Century, such as the Blue Rider Group and the Bauhaus movement. He continued to further express and define his form of art in numerous exhibitions. His woodcuts, like Gaugin, helped to define his stark and edgy body of work. Wassily Kandinsky exploited the evocative interrelation between color and form to create an aesthetic experience that engaged the sight, sound, and emotions of the public. He believed that total abstraction offered the possibility for profound, transcendental expression and that copying from nature only interfered with this process.