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Kazimir Malevich was not only an artist, but also a philosopher and art theorist. He founded Suprematism. This is a kind of abstractionism, when multi-colored planes of the simplest forms are combined on the canvas.
One of the features of his painting technique was the imposition of one layer of paint on another. So, he made the bottom layer black, and red on top. The light beam, passing through these colorful layers, made these paints a little different: the same red turned out with a dark tint.
Critics are sure that he is a genius. And for people who are far from art, his paintings seem too primitive, because. a child can draw like this.
The paintings of the famous artist are valued all over the world, in the USA there is the Malevich Society, although in his homeland he was under an unspoken ban. Like many creative people, he felt his time. We have collected 10 most famous paintings by Kazimir Malevich with photos and titles.
10 Red cavalry galloping
The exact time of the painting is unknown, but presumably it appeared between 1928 and 1932.
For a long time it was the only abstract work that was recognized by the Soviet artists. And all because it depicted the events of the October Revolution, as evidenced by its name “Red cavalry galloping».
Between heaven and earth, in the vastness of the country, engulfed in revolutionary unrest, the red cavalry rushes. It seems that the whole country is moving towards its communist future.
But Malevich himself wrote that people had many leaders, some of whom promised material benefits, other spiritual gifts. Those who believed them first walked, then ran, in the hope of achieving all these benefits, but they still don’t exist.
Such a movement in hope is reminiscent of the desire of crazy people who run towards the horizon, hoping to reach the ends of the Earth.
9. Reapers
The picture refers to the “peasant” period of his life. He was sure that the peasants could not exist without religion and icons, so in the paintings of this cycle we feel the influence of the principles applied in Russian icon painting.
On canvas “Reapers» we see women who are harvesting. The artist tried to show the real rural life, how hard it was to work in the field. We can see this on the face of the woman in the foreground.
In the background you can see the St. Nicholas Church, built in the village of Romashkovo. The famous artist liked to work and rest there. Moreover, he asked to be buried in these places.
8. cow and violin
This work is considered one of his most striking and unusual paintings.
It was written on an ordinary board. At that time, Malevich was short on funds and could not buy an expensive canvas. He decided to paint directly on part of the wooden shelf. It even has mounting holes.
The dark background of the painting “cow and violin” speaks of the gloomy mood of the artist, of his sadness. The work itself is a kind of protest against that time. Then literature and painting had to meet certain standards, even music was written according to the rules.
Kazimir Malevich believed that there is nothing more important than freedom, opposed standards and combined incongruous things.
His picture is a mockery of the cliché, it is filled with a deep philosophical meaning, calls to look back not only at the standards, but also to have their own worldview.
7. Grinder
The painting was created in 1912. In the center of the canvas is a wheel. The movement of the grinder’s leg and his hands is shown. One of the hands brings the knife to the machine, and the other hand presses the knife blade to the grinding wheel. We do not know what the head of the grinder looks like, what kind of face the unknown master has. It is only clear that he has a thick, large red mustache.
The painting “Grinder” combines cubism and futurism, i.e. it is written in the style of futurocubism. A heap of similar objects was taken from cubism. And the futuristic energy is the flickering of details.
In the 1920s, the painting was shown at the First Russian Exhibition, where it was bought by New York-based artist Katerina Dreyer and taken to the United States.
After “Grinder” ended up in the Yale University Art Gallery.
6. Suprematist composition
«Suprematist composition“is one of the highest paid works of Russian art. It was established in 1916.
A blue rectangle is drawn on it, it is located on a red beam. This is a kind of protest of the artist against naturalism. Each of the figures has its own meaning.
The painting was taken to Berlin for an exhibition in 1927, but due to the artist’s hasty departure back to the USSR, he gave it to Hugo Goering. The Nazis tried to destroy his works, but Goering saved them.
After him, she changed several owners, until in 2018 she was sold to an anonymous buyer for $85.812.500.
5. Self portrait
Throughout his life, Kazimir Malevich created his own self-portraits, each of which is written in its own style, it helps to convey the emotional state of the artist.
His most unusual self-portrait was painted shortly before his death, in 1933. He portrayed himself not broken by repression and a serious illness, but a winner, with his head held high. Malevich was ready to challenge his right to creative freedom.
He is dressed in a Venetian Renaissance costume, which emphasizes the revolutionary nature of his work. Instead of a signature, there is a black square, which, as it were, indicates that Malevich believes that he is right.
4. Winter landscape
The manner of paintingWinter landscape» – primitivist. It seems that it was drawn by a child who does not yet know how to create complex objects, so he is trying to convey what he saw through geometric shapes.
Kazimir Malevich was an experienced artist, but he used this technique to convey his feelings from a winter day. He again deviates from tradition and depicts winter with rich colors.
3. White on white
Malevich had only 3 supermatic squares. One of them is white, and the painting was called “White on white“. The canvas was painted in 1918. On it we see 2 shades of white. The background turned out to be warmer, and the square itself turned out to be in cold bluish tones.
A square on a white background is pointlessness and plotlessness, the pinnacle of supermatism. In America, this is the most famous painting by this artist.
2. Red Square (Woman in two dimensions)
The picture appeared in 1915. On a white background, we see a red rectangle. Its other namePicturesque realism of a peasant woman in 2 dimensions».
This is an innovative depiction of a peasant woman in a traditional red sundress. The reality, which appeared for us in 3 dimensions, turned into an image-sign in 2 dimensions.
But the appearance of the picture can also express Malevich’s emotional experiences due to the First World War.
1. Black square
One of the most discussed paintings in Russian art, created in 1915. The artist decided to completely break with objectivity, and said that his “Black square” is the first step of pure creativity, “zero forms”. This is a sign of denial, the reduction to zero of the entire previous culture.
What does “null” mean? This is non-objectivity, as well as the end of traditional objective thinking, the “desert of non-existence”.