Malevich’s painting Suprematist Composition

Kazimir Malevich. Painting
Kazimir Malevich. Painting “Suprematist Composition”, 1916

“Suprematist Composition” is a recognized masterpiece of Russian art, painted by Kazimir Severinovich Malevich in 1916, one of the most famous and mysterious paintings in the world, which became the subject of lengthy litigation and a record-breaking Sotheby’s auction lot. The work, made in the style of abstract art, depicts geometric shapes of regular shape in the main colors of the spectrum. The main element of the composition is a blue square, partially covering the small red line. Despite the seeming simplicity of the plot, the meaning of the work is not always clear to the general public.

Author: Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935).
Year of writing: 1916.
Dimensions: 88.5 x 71 cm.
Style: Abstractionism.
Technique: Oil painting.
Material: Canvas.
Location: Private collection. Kazimir Severinovich

Malevich is a Russian and Soviet avant-garde artist, teacher and philosopher of the early 20th century, who founded Suprematism, a direction of absolutely pure geometric abstraction. Rejecting any attachment to the outside world, the master deliberately rejects the illusions of representative painting, presents a fundamentally new approach to art, corresponding to the spirit of the times, which allows him to “break out of the circle of things that limit the artist.”

Malevich’s painting Suprematist Composition – an icon of Russian avant-garde art

The new painterly realism relies on various combinations of colors, lines and planes that rise above natural forms. The painting “Suprematist Composition”, also known as “The Blue Square over the Red Ray”, is a vivid example of the artist’s work.

The idea of ​​the work comes from the anarchic architecture of forms. Composed of many stretched, rotated and overlapping colored figures, the composition is a constellation of strict geometry and limited color in a small space, embodying the painter’s vision in a state of higher consciousness. And the white background broadens the horizons and reflects the boundless space of the ideal. “Suprematist Composition”, which became the master’s favorite work, had an amazing history.

After the Moscow retrospective exhibitions of 1919-1920, the painting incredibly filtered through the iron curtain of the Soviet system, conquered the Western public, miraculously survived the war years, changed several owners, twice participated in prestigious auctions and set two successive cost records: $ 60 million and $ 85.8 mln.

Sellers and buyers of the masterpiece wished to remain incognito. Malevich’s painting “Suprematist Composition” sometimes causes shock to an unprepared viewer, a feeling of the end of painting, and perhaps of art itself. But with careful attention to the work, new meanings begin to open up that can be discussed for a long time.