Dismay, amazement, amusement - these were reactions Frantisek Kupka earned for upon the display of his first entirely abstract work in Paris in 1912. However, the work of this pioneer of abstraction was soon judged differently. Alternative intellectual models, like the current chaos theory, allow a new interpretation of Kupka's oeuvre. The change in this Czech modernist's work from figurative reproduction to autonomous compositions of color and form was based on painterly, philosophical and scientific ideas. This extensive publication emphasizes Kupka's work before 1932 and documents his road to abstraction, while offering a new perspective a view at his scientific thinking and the writings of the pioneer of abstract art whose followers included Mondrian and Kandinsky. (German edition available ISBN 3-7757-0691-7) The artist: Frantisek Kupka (Opocno 1871-1957 Puteaux). 1888-1892 studies at the Prague Academy. 1892-1893 attending the Vienna Academy. 1893 sojourns at the Académie Julian and Ecole des Beaux Arts. 1911- 1912 member of the Puteaux-Group. 1922 Professor at the Prague Academy in Paris. 1931-1934 Establishment and member of the group of "Abstraction-Création" (including Arp, Van Doesburg, Vantangerloo).