"White Square" by Malevich: features, history and interesting facts. Malevich, whom you did not know: little-known facts about the life and work of the artist Malevich against the background of his works
If you are even slightly interested in the world of painting or fine arts, then you must have heard about Malevich’s black square. Everyone is perplexed at how mediocre modern art can be, supposedly artists paint whatever they like, and at the same time become popular and rich. This is not a completely correct idea of art, I would like to develop this topic and tell you the history and even the background of the painting "Black Suprematist Square".
what does the black square mean? Quotes from Malevich about “Black Square”
Square
-the germ of all possibilities.
Square
-non-subconscious form. This is the creativity of the intuitive mind.
Square
-became an element of expression not only of picturesque sensations, but also of others, for example, sensations of peace, dynamics, mystical.
If humanity painted the image of the Divine in its own image, then perhaps the Black Square is the image of God as a being of his perfection.
What did the artist mean when he said these words?
Let's try to find out about this together, but we can immediately say that there is clearly a meaning in this picture.
It is worth considering the fact that this picture loses all its value if you remove from it the history and the huge symbolism intertwined with the manifesto with which it is charged. So let's start from the very beginning, who drew the black square?
Kazimir Severinovich Malevich
Malevich against the background of his works
The artist was born in Kyiv into a Polish family and studied painting at the Kyiv Drawing School under academician Nikolai Pymonenko. After some time, he moved to Moscow to continue his painting studies at a higher level. But even then, in his youth, he tried to put ideas and deep meaning into his paintings. In his early works he mixed styles such as cubism, futurism and expressionism.
The idea of creating a black square
Malevich experimented a lot, and got to the point where he began to interpret alogism in his own way (to deny logic and the usual sequence). That is, he did not deny that it is difficult to find echoes of logic in his works, but the absence of logic also has a law, thanks to which it can be meaningfully absent. If you understand the principles of the work of alogism, as he also called it “abstruse realism,” then the works will be perceived in a completely new key and in a sense of a higher order. Suprematism is the artist’s view of objects from the outside, and the usual forms to which we are accustomed are no longer used at all. The basis of Suprematism includes three main forms - a circle, a cross and our favorite square.
black square at the exhibition
A black square in the place of the icon, in the corner. Exhibition 0.10
The meaning of black square futuristic painting exhibition
What is the black square about, and what did Malevich want to convey to the viewer? With this painting, the artist, in his humble opinion, opened a new dimension of painting. Where there are no familiar forms, there is no golden ratio, color combinations and other aspects of traditional painting. All the rules and foundations of art of those years were violated by one daring, ideological, original artist. It was the black square that marked the final break with academicism and took the place of the icon. Roughly speaking, this is something on the level of the matrix with its science fiction proposals. The artist tells us his idea that everything is not at all as we imagined. This painting is a symbol, after accepting which everyone should learn a new language in the visual arts. After painting this picture, the artist, according to him, was in real shock and could neither eat nor sleep for a long time. According to the idea of the exhibition, he was going to reduce everything to zero, and then even go a little negative, and he succeeded. The zero in the title symbolizes the form, and ten - the absolute meaning and the number of participants who were supposed to exhibit their Suprematist works.
That's the whole story I
The story turned out to be short, due to the fact that there are more questions about the black square than answers. Technically, the work is done simply and banally, but its idea fits into two sentences. There is no point in naming exact dates or interesting facts - many of them are made up or very inaccurate. But there is one interesting detail that simply cannot be ignored. The artist dated all important events in his life and his paintings to 1913. It was in this year that he invented Suprematism, so the physical and actual date of the creation of the black square did not bother him at all. But if you believe art critics and historians, then it was actually drawn in 1915.
Not the first "Black Square"
Don’t be surprised, Malevich was not a pioneer; the most original was the Englishman Robert Fludd, who created the painting “The Great Darkness” back in 1617.
picture of the great darkness
After him, a number of different artists created their masterpieces:
"View of La Hogue (night effect)" 1843;
"The Twilight History of Russia" 1854.
Then two humorous sketches are created:
“Night fight of blacks in the basement” 1882;
"Battle of Negroes in a Cave in the Dead of Night" 1893.
And only 22 years later, at the exhibition of paintings “0.10”, the presentation of the painting “Black Suprematist Square” took place! It was presented as part of a triptych, which also included “Black Circle” and “Black Cross”. As you can see, Malevich’s square is an absolutely understandable and ordinary picture if you look at it from the right angle. A funny incident happened to me once: once they wanted to order a copy of a painting from me, but the woman did not know the very essence and intent of the black square. After I told her, she was a little disappointed and changed her mind about making such a dubious purchase. Indeed, in artistic terms, a black square is just a dark figure on the canvas.
Cost of Black Square
Oddly enough, this is a very common and trivial question. The answer to it is very simple - the Black Square has no price, that is, it is priceless. Back in 2002, one of the richest people in Russia bought it for the Tretyakov Gallery for a symbolic sum of one million dollars. At the moment, no one will be able to get it into their private collection, at any cost. The Black Square is on the list of those masterpieces that should belong only to museums and the public.
If you are even slightly interested in the world of painting or fine arts, then you must have heard about Malevich’s black square. Everyone is perplexed by how mediocre modern art can be, supposedly artists paint whatever they like, and at the same time become popular and rich. This is not a completely correct idea of art, I would like to develop this topic and tell you the history and even the background of the painting « .
Quotes from Malevich about « Black square »
If humanity painted the image of the Divine in its own image, then perhaps the Black Square is the image of God as a being of his perfection
What did the artist mean when he said these words? Let's try to find out about this together, but we can immediately say that there is clearly a meaning in this picture.
It is worth considering the fact that this picture loses all its value if you remove from it the history and the huge symbolism intertwined with the manifesto with which it is charged. So let's start from the very beginning, who drew the black square?
Kazimir Severinovich Malevich
Malevich against the background of his works
The artist was born in Kyiv into a Polish family and studied painting at the Kyiv Drawing School under academician Nikolai Pymonenko. After some time, he moved to Moscow to continue his painting studies at a higher level. But even then, in his youth, he tried to put ideas and deep meaning into his paintings. In his early works he mixed styles such as cubism, futurism and expressionism.
The idea of creating a black square
Malevich experimented a lot, and got to the point where he began to interpret alogism in his own way (to deny logic and the usual sequence). That is, he did not deny that it is difficult to find echoes of logic in his works, but the absence of logic also has a law, thanks to which it can be meaningfully absent. If you understand the principles of the work of alogism, as he also called it “abstruse realism,” then the works will be perceived in a completely new key and in a sense of a higher order. Suprematism is the artist’s view of objects from the outside, and the usual forms to which we are accustomed are no longer used at all. The basis of Suprematism includes three main forms - a circle, a cross and our favorite square.
A black square in the place of the icon, in the corner. Exhibition 0.10
The meaning of the black square
What is the black square about, and what did Malevich want to convey to the viewer? With this painting, the artist, in his humble opinion, opened a new dimension of painting. Where there are no familiar forms, there is no golden ratio, color combinations and other aspects of traditional painting. All the rules and foundations of art of those years were violated by one daring, ideological, original artist. It was the black square that marked the final break with academicism and took the place of the icon. Roughly speaking, this is something on the level of the matrix with its science fiction proposals. The artist tells us his idea that everything is not at all as we imagined. This painting is a symbol, after accepting which everyone should learn a new language in the visual arts. After painting this picture, the artist, according to him, was in real shock and could neither eat nor sleep for a long time. According to the idea of the exhibition, he was going to reduce everything to zero, and then even go a little negative, and he succeeded. The zero in the title symbolizes the form, and ten - the absolute meaning and the number of participants who were supposed to exhibit their Suprematist works.
That's the whole story
The story turned out to be short, due to the fact that there are more questions about the black square than answers. Technically, the work is done simply and banally, but its idea fits into two sentences. There is no point in naming exact dates or interesting facts - many of them are made up or very inaccurate. But there is one interesting detail that simply cannot be ignored. The artist dated all important events in his life and his paintings to 1913. It was in this year that he invented Suprematism, so the physical and actual date of the creation of the black square did not bother him at all. But if you believe art critics and historians, then it was actually drawn in 1915.
Not first "H black square »
Don’t be surprised, Malevich was not a pioneer; the most original was the Englishman Robert Fludd, who created the painting “The Great Darkness” back in 1617.
After him, a number of different artists created their masterpieces:
- "View of La Hogue (Night Effect)" 1843;
- "The Twilight History of Russia" 1854
Then two humorous sketches are created:
- "Night fight of blacks in the basement" 1882;
- "Battle of Negroes in a Cave in the Dead of Night" 1893
And only 22 years later, at the exhibition of paintings “0.10” the presentation of the painting took place « Black Suprematist Square"! It was presented as part of a triptych, which also included “Black Circle” and “Black Cross”. As you can see, Malevich’s square is an absolutely understandable and ordinary picture if you look at it from the right angle. A funny incident happened to me once: once they wanted to order a copy of a painting from me, but the woman did not know the very essence and intent of the black square. After I told her, she was a little disappointed and changed her mind about making such a dubious purchase. Indeed, in artistic terms, a black square is just a dark figure on the canvas.
Cost of Black Square
Oddly enough, this is a very common and trivial question. The answer to it is very simple - the Black Square has no price, that is, it is priceless. Back in 2002, one of the richest people in Russia bought it for the Tretyakov Gallery for a symbolic sum of one million dollars. At the moment, no one will be able to get it into their private collection, at any cost. The Black Square is on the list of those masterpieces that should belong only to museums and the public.
Malevich, is there any point?
I say “Malevich” - you imagine a black square. But Malevich painted not only a square, but also many different colored figures. And not only figures. But now let's talk about them. When you look at Malevich’s paintings, the question arises: “why did he paint this?” By the way, Malevich answers the question “why” - very long and boring in his philosophical works. To put it simply and briefly, it was a protest. Creativity as protest. An attempt to create something completely new. And there’s no arguing that Malevich managed to surprise and shock. A hundred years have passed since the “Black Square” was created, and it still haunts people, and many consider it their duty to dismiss “I can do it too.” And you can do this, and Malevich could do it. Malevich was the first to think of this - and therefore became popular.Even the artist draws inspiration from the master’s paintings!
Malevich was able to come up with a new direction. This direction of painting is called “Suprematism”. From the word “supremus”, which means “highest”. At first, Malevich called color “high.” After all, color is the main thing in painting. And then, with the advent of popularity, the artist already called his style “superior”. I could afford it. Now Suprematism is the highest, the best, the only true style of painting.
Suprematist artists draw different geometric shapes, most often square, rectangle, circle and line. The colors are simple - black, white, red and yellow. But there may be exceptions - every artist draws the way he wants.
If you want to understand the trends of contemporary art, we recommend reading a couple of books in the selection.
How did Malevich understand painting?
This can be said in one quote:“When the habit of seeing in paintings images of corners of nature, Madonnas and shameless Venuses disappears, then only we will see a purely pictorial work.”
How does it differ from the work of the “unclean”? The fact that painting, according to Malevich, should create something that has never existed before. Create, not repeat. This is what distinguishes an artist from a craftsman. The artisan “stamps” the product. And the artist’s work is one such thing. Without repeating what has already been created. If we see a landscape on a canvas, it is a “repetition” of nature. If a person is drawn, this is also a repetition, because people already exist in life.
Malevich coined the term – pointlessness. In the picture we must see the non-objectivity, and only in this case the picture is real. Because if we see an object, it means that this object exists in the world. If it exists, it means that the artist did not draw anything new. Then why did he draw at all? This is the philosophy.
In addition to the famous “Black Square,” Malevich also painted white and red squares. But for some reason they did not become so popular.
So, the meaning of Malevich’s paintings is that the artist comes up with something that has never happened and never will. This is how he excites the audience. The public likes to discuss, condemn, or vice versa – admire. That is why Malevich gained popularity, and debates about his work have not subsided to this day. But Malevich is not only Suprematism.
What else did Malevich paint?
All artists, before moving on to such experiments, first learned academic painting. The one that follows the rules to which we are accustomed. Malevich is no exception. He painted landscapes and portraits and was engaged in fresco painting.Sketch of a fresco painting entitled “The Triumph of Heaven”:
Scenery. "Spring":
Portrait of a girl:
After this, Malevich moved on to experiments. The artist tried to convey the movement of people using geometric shapes. One of the most popular paintings in this style is called “The Lumberjack”. The effect of movement is achieved through smooth color transitions.
And these are paintings from the artist’s “Peasant Cycle”. “To the harvest. Marfa and Vanka." At first glance, the figures seem motionless, but another moment and we will see movement.
Another “moving” picture is “Harvest”:
And this picture is called “Athletes”. The main thing here is color and symmetry. This is an example of how the Suprematism movement can be used not only in drawing squares and lines. The silhouettes consist of multi-colored figures. But at the same time we see people in the picture. And we even notice the sports uniform.
Fabrics from Malevich
Malevich created sketches of such fabrics. Their ornamentation was invented under the influence of the same Suprematism: on the fabric we see figures and typical colors - black, red, blue, green.
Based on the sketches of Malevich and Alexandra Ekster (artist and designer), the craftswomen of the village of Verbovka made embroidery. They embroidered scarves, tablecloths and pillows, and then sold them at fairs. Such embroideries were especially popular at fairs in Berlin.
Malevich also drew sketches of costumes for the play “Victory over the Sun.” It was an experimental play that defied logic. The only musical instrument that accompanied the play was an out-of-tune piano. From left to right: Attentive worker, Athlete, Bully.
What inspired Malevich?
How was Malevich able to come up with a new direction? An amazing fact, but the artist was inspired by folk art. In his autobiography, he called ordinary peasant women his first art teachers. The future artist looked at their work and realized that he wanted to learn the same way. Take a closer look at the embroidery - this is the beginning of Suprematism. Here we see the same geometry that Malevich would later create. These are ornaments without beginning or end - multi-colored figures on a white background. Squares. In Malevich's Suprematist drawings the background is white, because it means infinity. And the colors of the patterns are the same: red, black, blue are used.
1. At the porcelain factory in Petrograd, tableware and tea sets were decorated according to the sketches of Malevich and his students.
2. Malevich was the designer of the bottle of Severny cologne. The artist designed the bottle at the request of perfumer Alexandre Brocard. This is a transparent glass bottle, shaped like an ice mountain. And on top there is a cap in the shape of a bear.
3. The familiar word “weightlessness” was invented by Malevich. The artist understood development (whether creative or technical) as an airplane that had overcome its weight and taken to the sky. That is, weightlessness for Malevich meant an ideal. And weight is a frame, a weight that pulls people down. And over time, the word began to be used in its usual meaning.
4. A true artist has art everywhere. Even in everyday life. This is what Malevich's office looked like. We see a black square, a cross and a circle. In the middle is one of the Suprematist paintings that the artist painted at that time.
5. Malevich had a wonderful sense of humor. He signed some paintings like this: “The meaning of the painting is unknown to the author.” Funny, but honest.
6. There is still not a single Malevich museum in the world. But there are monuments.
Opening of the monument to the “Black Square”:
Monument to the work of Malevich:
7. Malevich is not only an artist and designer, but also a writer: he wrote poems, articles and philosophical books.
8. Malevich was abroad only once, but his work was popular throughout Europe. And now most of his paintings are in museums in Europe and America.
9. All his life the artist thought that he was born in 1878. And only after the celebration of his 125th anniversary it became clear that his real date of birth was 1879. Therefore, Malevich’s 125th anniversary was celebrated twice.
10. Recently programmers came up with the “Malevich font”. It's difficult to read, but looks interesting.
7 facts about the “Black Square”
1. The first name of the “Black Square” is “Black quadrangle on a white background.” And it’s true: “Black Square” is not actually a square. After all, neither side is equal to the other. It's almost invisible - but you can apply a ruler and measure.
2. In total, Malevich painted 4 “Black Squares”. They are all different in size and are located in Russian museums. The artist himself called his square “the beginning of everything.” But in fact, the first “Black Square” is a painted over picture. Which one – we don’t know. There was a lot of debate about whether to remove the paint from the square and look or leave everything as is. We decided to leave it. After all, first of all, this was the will of the artist. And under the x-ray you can see what kind of drawing Malevich began to draw. Most likely, this is also something geometric:
3. Malevich himself explained “painting over” differently. He said that he drew the square quickly, that the idea arose as an inspiration. Therefore, there was no time to look for a clean linen - and he took the one that was lying at hand.
4. “Black Square” quickly became a symbol of new art. It was used as a signature. Artists sewed a square piece of black fabric onto clothing. This meant that they were artists of a new generation. In the photo: Malevich’s students under a flag in the form of a black square.
5. What does “Black Square” mean? Everyone can understand the picture in their own way. Some people believe that in a square we see space, because in space there is no up and down. Only weightlessness and infinity. Malevich said that a square is a feeling, and a white background is nothing. It turns out that this feeling is empty. And also - the square does not occur in nature, unlike other figures. This means it is not connected to the real world. This is the whole meaning of Suprematism.
6. At his first exhibition in St. Petersburg, Malevich defiantly hung the “Black Square” in the corner where icons usually hung. The artist challenged the public. And the public was immediately divided into opponents of the new art and its admirers.
7. The main value of “Black Square” is that every admirer of Malevich’s work can hang a reproduction of the painting in his home. Moreover, it is of our own production.
Finally, I offer this quote from Malevich, which explains all of his work:
“They always demand that art be understandable, but they never demand that they adapt their heads to understanding.”
February 23 marked the 140th anniversary of the birth of avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich. During his 56 years, he managed to invent a new direction in art, abandon it, and most importantly, create one of the most scandalous paintings in the history of painting.
Kazimir Malevich. Photo moiarussia.ru
10 amazing facts from the life of Kazimir Malevich
1 . Three countries are debating for the right to call Kazimir Malevich their own. In addition to Ukraine, where the artist was born, Poland and Russia “claim” him.
The Polish side justifies this by the fact that Malevich’s family was Polish. Kazimir was the first of 14 children of the nobleman Severin Malevich. Representatives of Ukraine emphasize that the artist was born in Kyiv and managed to live in Podolia, Chernigov region, and Kharkov region until he was 17 years old. In addition, Malevich's professional training began at the Kyiv Art School.
The Russian side notes that the artist lived for many years on the territory of their state. Here he created a lot and left his creative legacy.
2 . Until the age of 26, Kazimir was no different from many people, combining work as a draftsman with the hobby of painting in his free time. But the passion for creativity eventually prevailed, and Malevich, who had managed to get married by that time, left his family and went to Moscow to study.
The future genius of Cubism and Suprematism entered the capital’s school of painting, sculpture and architecture four times in a row, and was rejected each time.
3 . In February 1914, Malevich participated in a shocking “futurist demonstration”, during which artists walked along the Kuznetsky Bridge with wooden Khokhloma spoons in their coat buttonholes.
“Black Square” by Malevich at the exhibition at the Art Bureau of N. Dobychina. Photo malevich.ru
4 . In December 1915 in Petrograd, at the exhibition “0.10”, the “father of Suprematism” for the first time showed “Black Square”, placed among other abstract compositions not like a painting on the wall, but like an icon - in the red corner.
5 . At the invitation of Marc Chagall in 1919, the artist moved to Vitebsk to teach at the People's Art School, on the basis of which Malevich created. Its symbol was a black square, which was worn sewn onto the sleeve.
UNOVIS Group. 1920. Vitebsk. Photo malevich.ru
6 . Malevich, like many avant-garde artists, was favored by the Soviet regime. In November 1917, he was appointed Commissioner for the Protection of Monuments and a member of the Commission for the Protection of Artistic Values, then he worked at Narkompros (People's Commissariat of Education).
7 . Over time, Kazimir Malevich, who never entered any educational institution, became the author of a number of scientific works, a promoter of his own direction in art (Suprematism) and director of the Leningrad State Institute of Artistic Culture.
“Let the overthrow of the old world of art be traced on your palms” Kazimir Malevich. Photo malevich.ru
8 . By the early 1930s, the artistic course of the Soviet regime was changing, and Malevich was arrested. With the help of influential friends, he manages to justify himself, but his authority in the Soviet artistic community is irrevocably undermined, and the artist’s work is subjected to severe criticism. Throughout the entire Soviet period, official art criticism recognized only one abstract work by the master - the painting “Red Cavalry Galloping.”
Kazimir Malevich "The Red Cavalry is Galloping". Photo malevich.ru
9 . In the last years of his life, the artist returned to realism. This is usually explained by the fact that Malevich gave in to the demands of the authorities, but perhaps this was only a natural continuation of his earlier ideas.
10 . In 1933, it became known that the artist was suffering from prostate cancer. Sensing death approaching, Malevich designed his own Suprematist coffin in the shape of a cross. Kazimir Malevich died on May 15, 1935.
As the artist bequeathed, his funeral was filled with Suprematist symbolism. The image of the “Black Square” was everywhere - on the coffin, in the hall of the civil funeral service, and even on the train carriage that carried the artist’s body to Moscow.
Malevich in the Suprematist coffin. 1935. Photo malevich.ru
The artist’s ashes were buried in the village of Nemchinovka near Moscow. After the Great Patriotic War, the exact location was forgotten and lost.
These are just a few moments from the life of Kazimir Malevich. A .
Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (1878 - 1935) is an artist famous in the genre of avant-garde, impressionism, futurism, and cubism.
Biography of Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Malevich was born in Kyiv on February 11 (February 23), 1879. His parents were of Polish origin. His father, Severin, worked as a manager in Kyiv at the plant of the then famous sugar manufacturer Tereshchenko. But according to other data, the father of Kazimir Malevich was the Belarusian folklorist and ethnographer Severin Antonovich Malevich. However, if the identity of the artist’s father raises questions, it is known for certain that Kazimir’s mother, Ludwiga Alexandrovna, was an ordinary housewife.
Fourteen children were born into the family, but only nine lived to adulthood, and Casimir was the eldest among this noisy gang.
He began drawing with the light hand of his mother, at the age of fifteen, after she gave her son a set of paints. When Malevich turned seventeen, he studied for some time at the Kyiv art school of N.I. Murashko.
The Malevichs decided to move the whole family to the city of Kursk in 1896. What prompted this decision to move is unknown, but what is known is that Casimir worked there for some time as some minor official, languishing from routine melancholy.
This could not continue for long, so he finally abandoned his clerk career for painting.
His first paintings were painted under the influence of the French impressionists and, of course, were also created in the style of impressionism. After some time, he became passionate about futurism. He was almost the most active participant in all futurist exhibitions, and even worked on costumes and scenery, in a word, he designed a futurist opera called “Victory over the Sun” in 1913. This performance, held in St. Petersburg, became one of the most important stages in the development of the entire Russian avant-garde.
It was the geometrization of forms and maximum simplification in design that prompted Kazimir Malevich to think about creating a new direction - Suprematism.
Malevich's work
The artist made a revolution, took a step that no one in the world could take before him. He completely abandoned figurativeness, even fragmented figurativeness, which had previously existed in futurism and cubism.
The artist showed his first forty-nine paintings to the world at an exhibition held in Petrograd in 1915 - “0.10”. Under his works, the artist placed a sign: “Suprematism of painting.” Among these paintings was the world-famous “Black Square”, painted in 1914 (?), which caused fierce attacks from critics. However, these attacks do not subside to this day.
The very next year, Kazimir Malevich published a brochure entitled “From Cubism to Suprematism. New pictorial realism,” in which he clearly substantiated his innovation.
Suprematism ultimately had such a huge influence not only on painting, but also on the architectural art of the West and Russia that it brought truly world fame to its creator.
Suprematism 
Musical instrument 
Flower girl
Like all artists of a non-standard, “left” movement, Kazimir Malevich was very active during the revolution.
The artist designed the scenery for Vladimir Mayakovsky’s first play “Mystery Bouffe” in 1918; he was in charge of the Art Department at the Moscow Council. When he moved to Petrograd, he headed and taught at the Free Art Workshops.
In the fall of 1919, Casimir went to the city of Vitebsk to teach at the People's Art School, which was organized by Marc Chagall, and which soon transformed into the Art and Practical Institute. He left Vitebsk only in 1922 to return to Petrograd and work at a porcelain factory, invent more and more new forms of painting, and studied the possibilities of using Suprematism in architecture.
In 1932, Malevich achieved the position of head of the Experimental Laboratory at the Russian Museum, where he developed the theory of the “surplus element in painting”, which he had put forward earlier.
In the same year, 1932, Malevich suddenly turned again to traditional realism. Perhaps this was due to the trends of the new time, but, one way or another, Kazimir Malevich was never able to finish this new period of his work. In 1933, he became seriously ill, and two years later, in 1935, he died.
Almost 100 years have passed since Kazimir Malevich created the famous “Black Square”, and the hype around it has not subsided. There is still no consensus on how exactly the famous painting was created. At the moment, there are two versions about the history of the origin of the masterpiece: prosaic and mystical.
The prose version tells how Malevich was preparing for a very large exhibition. But circumstances were not in his favor and the artist either did not have time to finish the work, or simply ruined it. And in a panic, not knowing what to do, he grabbed dark paint and painted a black square on top of his work. As a result, the so-called “crackle” effect formed on the canvas - this is when the paint cracks. This is what happens as a result of applying paint to another one that has not dried. It is in this chaotic arrangement of a huge number of cracks that people find different images.
But the mystical version says that Kazimir worked on this work for more than one month. Through a philosophical understanding of the world, when a certain deep understanding and insight was achieved, the “Black Square” was created.
After the painting was finally completed, the creator could neither sleep nor eat. As the creator himself wrote, he was busy peering into the mysterious space of the black square. He claimed that he saw in this square what people once saw in the face of God.
Why is this picture known throughout the world? There are few people who don't know about it. Maybe the whole point is that no one had done this before Malevich? Maybe it's just a matter of innovation?
But! The thing is that Kazimir Malevich was not the first artist to paint a black square on canvas.
In Paris, in 1882, an exhibition was held called “The Art of the Inconsistents” and the works of six artists took part in the exhibition. The most extraordinary painting was recognized as the work called “Night Fight of Blacks in the Basement” by Paul Bilchod. Guess what was depicted on it? Many artists fail simply because they failed to present their work correctly.