Why is Malevich's painting black square famous? Under Malevich's "black square" they found the original title of the painting. Everything secret becomes clear

Many people think that the painting called "Black square" - not a work of art, that it is just an artist’s pampering. In my opinion, this work contains a deep meaning, a cry from the soul and the emotional state of the author. There is a riddle in the painting “Black Square” that few art experts can solve. In this article I will try to understand the essence of the content of the picture.

I think that the color black was not used to create the painting “Black Square”. An artist could mix bright colors such as yellow, green, orange, royal blue, purple, but still end up with a black square.

There is even a meaning to this, which can be understood with a little thought: The author compared the black square with a person’s life, using bright colors at the beginning of his work, he described on canvas the joyful events that took place in a person’s life from birth, using dark colors, for example blue or purple, the author painted the canvas to show sad events.

The result is “Black Square” - with this the author is trying to explain to us that a person is dead, he sees neither dark nor light, his eyes are tightly closed for centuries.

The painting was painted during revolutionary actions in Russia, when the Russian Empire was turning into the USSR. Perhaps the picture was painted in order to show that the end of the old era of traditional painting has come, a poster of events in contemporary art comes to the fore, Malevich seems to be calling: “It’s time to move away from the old!” Malevich met the new government halfway, and the government believed him.

There is a version that Malevich’s painting is an anti-church gesture. At one of the exhibitions, “Black Square” hung in the corner, in the place where icons were usually placed in Russian houses. I think that by this the artist wanted to say that there is no God and religion is not needed. One of the proofs of this version is that Malevich was a Bolshevik. The Bolsheviks denied religion and God, closed and destroyed churches.

Some experts say that “Black Square” is a mental and creative crisis of the artist. Perhaps at this time many sad events happened in the author’s life. After finishing work on this painting, Malevich could neither eat nor sleep.

Perhaps “Black Square” is a failed painting that the artist painted for a long time, he was sorry to destroy it, so he decided to send it to the exhibition without laying any meaning in it, not knowing that generations would argue for centuries about the true purpose of this work of art .

Painting "Black Square" it is very widely known all over the world, controversy continues around it, no one has yet reached the truth, which means there is still something mysterious. I think that those people who believe that the picture was created for PR or that this is quackery are deeply wrong, they simply have a poorly developed imagination.

Different people perceive this picture differently, each has their own story of creation, which they guessed about with the help of imagination and reflection. Try to think for a moment about the meaning of the picture and a new truth will open for you.

Culture

Experts have revealed the secret of the famous work of art, discovering two hidden paintings under the work of Kazimir Malevich "Black Square".

The artist himself was puzzled by the end result of his work. " I could neither sleep nor eat, and tried to understand what I had done - but I could not", - he said.

The meaning of the painting "Black Square" by Malevich

The meaning of the "Black Square" was also revealed. Researchers said they were finally able to decipher the inscription on the painting, which is believed to have been made by the artist's hand.

It reads: " Battle of blacks in a dark cave"However, they added that they were almost sure of this, despite the fact that three letters between the “n” and “ov” remained undeciphered.

Apparently this is a reference to an earlier piece of black square" Battle of blacks in a dark cave in the dead of night"by the French writer and humorist Alphonse Allais, painted in 1897. If this is so, then Malevich's painting is a kind of dialogue with a French painting.

Kazimir Malevich, who was the founder of geometric abstract art at the beginning of the 20th century, founded the art movement known as Suprematism in 1913.

The painting "Black Square", which is presented in the Tretyakov Gallery, was painted in 1915. Malevich later created two more versions.

The second “Black Square” is a triptych, which also includes “Black Circle” and “Black Cross”.

In 1972, the English critic Henry Waites wrote:
“It would seem that it could be simpler: a black square on a white background. Anyone can probably draw this. But here’s a mystery: a black square on a white background - a painting by the Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, created at the beginning of the century, still attracts both researchers and art lovers as something sacred, as a kind of myth, as a symbol of the Russian avant-garde. What explains this mystery?
And he continues:
“They say that Malevich, having written “Black Square,” told everyone for a long time that he could neither eat nor sleep. And he himself doesn’t understand what he did. And indeed, this picture is apparently the result of some complex work. When we look at the black square, under the cracks we see the lower layers of paint - pink, lilac, ocher - apparently, there was some kind of color composition, recognized at some point as failed and recorded with a black square."

Tomographic scanning in infrared radiation showed the following results:

Kazemir Severinovich Malevich was born in Kyiv 23 February 18 '79. He grew up as a capable child, and in his school essay he wrote: “My dad works as a manager at a sugar factory. But his life is not sweet. All day long he listens to the workers swearing when they get drunk from the sugar mash. Therefore, when dad returns home, he often swears at mom. So when I grow up, I will become an artist. It's a good job. There is no need to swear at the workers, there is no need to carry heavy loads, and the air smells of paints and not of sugar dust, which is very harmful to health. A good painting costs a lot of money, but you can paint it in just one day.”.
After reading this essay, Kozya’s mother, Ludviga Alexandrovna (nee Galinovskaya), gave him a set of paints for his 15th birthday. And at the age of 17, Malevich entered the Kyiv drawing school of N.I. Murashko.

In August 1905, he came to Moscow from Kursk and applied for admission to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. However, he was not accepted into the school. Malevich did not want to return to Kursk; he settled in an art commune in Lefortovo. Here, in the large house of the artist Kurdyumov, about thirty “communards” lived. I had to pay seven rubles a month for a room—by Moscow standards, very cheap. But Malevich often had to borrow this money. In the summer of 1906, he again applied to the Moscow School, but he was not accepted a second time.
From 1906 to 1910, Kazimir attended classes in the studio of F.I. Rerberg in Moscow. Letters from the artist A.A. shed light on this period of his life. Extera to musician M.V. Matyushin. One of them describes the following.
To improve his finances, Kazimir Malevich began work on a series of paintings about a women's bathhouse. The paintings were not sold expensively and required additional expenses for models, but it was at least some money.
One day, after working with his models all night, Malevich fell asleep on the sofa in his studio. In the morning his wife came in to take money from him to pay the grocer's bills. Seeing another painting by the great master, she boiled with indignation and jealousy, grabbed a large brush and painted the canvas with black paint.
Waking up, Malevich tried to save the painting, but to no avail - the black paint had already dried.
Art historians believe that it was at this moment that Malevich’s idea of ​​“Black Square” was born.

The fact is that many artists long before Malevich tried to create something similar. These paintings were not widely known, but Malevich, who studied the history of painting, undoubtedly knew about them. Here are just a few examples.

Robert Fludd, "The Great Darkness" 1617

Bertal, "View of La Hogue (night effect), Jean-Louis Petit", 1843

Paul Bilhod, "Night Fight of Negroes in the Basement", 1882

Alphonse Allais, Philosophers Catching a Black Cat in a Dark Room, 1893

Alphonse Allais, a French journalist, writer and eccentric humorist, author of the popular aphorism “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow,” was the most successful in such creativity.
From 1882 to 1893, he painted a whole series of similar paintings, not at all hiding his humorous attitude towards these “creative explorations of extramaterial realities.”
For example, a completely white framed canvas was called “Anemic Girls Walking to First Communion in a Snowstorm.” The red canvas was called “Apoplectic Cardinals Picking Tomatoes on the Shores of the Red Sea,” etc.

Malevich undoubtedly understood that the secret of the success of such paintings lies not in the image itself, but in its theoretical basis. Therefore, he did not exhibit “Black Suprematist Square” until he wrote his famous manifesto “From Cubism to Suprematism” in 1915. New pictorial realism".

However, this was not enough. The exhibition was rather sluggish, since there were quite a lot of various “Suprematists”, “Cubists”, “Futurists”, “Dadaists”, “Conceptualists” and “Minimalists” in Moscow by that time, and the public was already quite tired of them.
Real success came to Malevich only after Lunacharsky appointed him in 1929 "People's Commissar of the IZO NARKOMPROS." Within this position Malevich took his “black square” and other works to the exhibition “Abstract and surrealist painting and plastic arts” in Zurich. Then he held personal exhibitions in Warsaw, Berlin and Munich, where his new book “The World as Non-Objectivity” was also published. The fame of Malevich's Black Square spread throughout Europe.

The fact that Malevich used his position not so much for international propaganda of Soviet art as for promoting his own creativity did not escape his Moscow colleagues. And upon returning from abroad in the fall of 1930 Malevich was arrested by the NKVD on a denunciation as a “German spy.”
However, thanks to Lunacharsky’s intercession, he spent only 4 months in prison, although he parted with the post of “People’s Commissar of Fine Arts” forever.

So the first oneThe “Black Suprematist Square”, which was discussed here, dates back to 1915, and is now in the Tretyakov Gallery.
Malevich painted the second “Black Square” in 1923 especially for the Russian Museum.
The third - in 1929. It is also located in the Tretyakov Gallery.
And the fourth - in 1930, especially for the Hermitage.

These museums also house other works by Malevich.

Kazemir Malevich, " Red Suprematist Square, 1915

Kazemir Malevich, "Black Suprematist Circle", 1923

Kazemir Malevich, "Suprematist Cross", 1923

Kazemir Malevich, "Black and White", 1915

Kazemir Malevich, self-portrait, 1933,
State Russian Museum

"Black square" Kazimir Malevich- the most mysterious picture of the last century. There is still controversy surrounding it. The most opposite opinions are expressed, judging by which the picture evokes in viewers the whole range of feelings - from exalted delight to complete rejection. Why does “Black Square” excite art lovers so much?…

On the one hand, you don’t have to be a great artist to draw a black square on a white background. Yes, anyone can do this! But here’s the mystery: “Black Square” is the most famous painting in the world. Almost 100 years have passed since it was written, and disputes and heated discussions do not stop. Why is this happening? What is the true meaning and value of Malevich’s “Black Square”?

"Black square" is a dark rectangle

Let's start with the fact that “Black Square” is not black at all and not square at all: none of the sides of the quadrangle is parallel to any of its other sides, and to none of the sides of the square frame that frames the picture. And the dark color is the result of mixing various colors, among which there was no black. It is believed that this was not the author’s negligence, but a principled position, the desire to create a dynamic, moving form.

Kazimir Malevich “Black Suprematist Square”, 1915

Despite the extreme simplicity of execution, the painting was the result of Malevich’s titanic internal work. As the artist himself recalled, the idea for “Square” came to him while working on the design of Matyushin’s opera “Victory over the Sun” in 1913.

Indeed, the surviving sketches show that Malevich used a square as the basis for the composition of the curtain, but this square was not yet black. It was filled with forms characteristic of Cubism. Similar shapes are visible through the cracks of the top paint layer of the “Black Square”. This is proof that Malevich initially wrote another composition in the style of cubism, but at some point he painted over everything, depicting a black square on a flat white background.

“I couldn’t sleep for a week, I wanted to understand what I had done,” Malevich later told his students. The artist experienced a state of shock caused by an insight revealed during the creative act.

Having painted “Black Square” on a whim, Malevich spent a lot of time and effort explaining the painting. “Busy looking into his (Square’s) mysterious black space,” wrote Malevich and claimed that he saw in him “what people once saw in the face of God.”

“Black Square” is a challenge to Orthodoxy

The painting was first presented at the futurist exhibition “0.10” in December 1915, along with 39 other works by Malevich. The “Black Square” hung in the most prominent place, in the so-called “red corner”, where icons were hung in Russian houses according to Orthodox traditions. There art critics “stumbled upon” him.

Exhibition "0.10". Petersburg. December 1915

Many perceived the picture as a challenge to Orthodoxy and an anti-Christian gesture. The greatest art critic of that time, Alexander Benois, wrote: “Undoubtedly, this is the icon that the futurists, gentlemen, put in place of the Madonna.”

This is how “Black Square” began its very complex life in world culture.

"Black Square" is a failed painting

For the futuristic exhibition “0.10”, which opened in St. Petersburg on December 19, 1915, Malevich had to paint several paintings. Time was already running out, and the artist either did not have time to complete the painting for the exhibition, or was not satisfied with the result and, in the heat of the moment, covered it up by painting a black square. At that moment, one of his friends came into the studio and, seeing the painting, shouted “Brilliant!” After which Malevich decided to take advantage of the opportunity and came up with some higher meaning for his “Black Square”.

Hence the effect of cracked paint on the surface. There is no mysticism, the picture just didn’t work out.

Repeated attempts were made to examine the canvas to find the original version under the top layer. However, scientists, critics and art historians believed that irreparable damage could be caused to the masterpiece and in every possible way prevented further examinations.

“Black square” is a multi-colored cube

Kazimir Malevich has repeatedly stated that the painting was created by him under the influence of the unconscious, a kind of “cosmic consciousness”. Some argue that only the square in the “Black Square” is seen by people with underdeveloped imagination. If, when considering this picture, you go beyond traditional perception, go beyond the visible, then you will understand that in front of you is not a black square, but a multi-colored cube.

The secret meaning embedded in the “Black Square” can then be formulated as follows: the world around us, only at the first, superficial glance, looks flat and black and white. If a person perceives the world in volume and in all its colors, his life will change dramatically. Millions of people, who, according to them, were instinctively attracted to this picture, subconsciously felt the volume and colorfulness of the “Black Square”.

Black color absorbs all other colors, so it is quite difficult to see a multi-colored cube in a black square. And to see the white behind the black, the truth behind the lies, life behind death is many times more difficult. But the one who manages to do this will discover a great philosophical formula.

"Black Square" is a riot in art

At the time the painting appeared in Russia, there was a dominance of artists of the Cubist school. Cubism reached its apogee, all the artists were already quite fed up, and new artistic directions began to appear. One of these trends was Malevich’s Suprematism and the “Black Suprematist Square” as its vivid embodiment.

The term “suprematism” comes from the Latin suprem, which means dominance, superiority of color over all other properties of painting. Suprematist paintings are non-objective painting, an act of “pure creativity”.

At the same time, the “Black Circle” and “Black Cross” were created and exhibited at the same exhibition, representing the three main elements of the Suprematist system. Later, two more Suprematist squares were created - red and white.

"Black Square", "Black Circle" and "Black Cross"

Suprematism became one of the central phenomena of the Russian avant-garde. Many talented artists experienced his influence. Rumor has it that Picasso lost interest in cubism after seeing Malevich’s “square.”

“Black Square” is an example of brilliant PR

Kazimir Malevich understood the essence of the future of modern art: it doesn’t matter what, the main thing is how to present and sell.

Artists have been experimenting with the color “all black” since the 17th century. Robert Fludd was the first to paint a completely black work of art called "The Great Darkness" in 1617, followed by Bertal in 1843 with his work "View of La Hougue (Under the Cover of Night)." More than two hundred years later.

And then almost without interruption - “The Twilight History of Russia” by Gustave Dore in 1854, “Night Fight of Negroes in the Cellar” by Paul Bealhold in 1882, a completely plagiarized “Battle of Negroes in a Cave in the Dead of Night” by Alphonse Allais. And only in 1915 Kazimir Malevich presented his “Black Suprematist Square” to the public. And it is his painting that is known to everyone, while others are known only to art historians. The extravagant trick made Malevich famous throughout the centuries.

Alphonse Allais, Philosophers Catching a Black Cat in a Dark Room, 1893

Subsequently, Malevich painted at least four versions of his “Black Square”, differing in design, texture and color, in the hope of repeating and increasing the success of the painting.

“Black Square” is a political move

Kazimir Malevich was a subtle strategist and skillfully adapted to the changing situation in the country. Numerous black squares painted by other artists during Tsarist Russia remained unnoticed. In 1915, Malevich’s square acquired a completely new meaning that was relevant for its time: the artist proposed revolutionary art for the benefit of a new people and a new era.

“Square” has almost nothing to do with art in its usual sense. The very fact of its writing is a declaration of the end of traditional art. A cultural Bolshevik, Malevich met the new government halfway, and the government believed him. Before the arrival of Stalin, Malevich held honorary positions and successfully rose to the rank of People's Commissar of the IZO NARKOMPROS.

Subsequently, in Unlike Marc Chagall or Wassily Kandinsky, who left for Europe and experienced fame and material prosperity during their lifetime, Kazimir Malevich lived a life full of hardships and difficulties in Russia, and his name was forgotten for many years.

“Black Square” is a refusal of content

The painting marked a clear transition to awareness of the role of formalism in the visual arts. Formalism is the rejection of literal content for the sake of artistic form. An artist, when painting a picture, thinks not so much in terms of “context” and “content”, but rather in terms of “balance”, “perspective”, “dynamic tension”. What Malevich recognized and his contemporaries did not recognize is de facto for modern artists and “just a square” for everyone else.

“Black Square” is a crisis of ideas in art

Malevich is called almost the guru of modern art and is accused of the death of traditional culture. Today, any daredevil can call himself an artist and declare that his “works” have the highest artistic value.

Art has outlived its usefulness and many critics agree that after “Black Square” nothing outstanding was created. Most artists of the twentieth century lost inspiration, many were in prison, exile or emigration.

“Black Square” is total emptiness, a black hole, death. They say that Malevich, after writing “Black Square,” told everyone for a long time that he could neither eat nor sleep. And he himself doesn’t understand what he did. Subsequently, he wrote 5 volumes of philosophical reflections on the topic of art and existence.

Self-portrait - Kazimir Malevich.

"Black Square" is quackery

Charlatans successfully fool the public into believing something that is not actually there. They declare those who do not believe them to be stupid, backward, and uncomprehending dullards who are inaccessible to the lofty and beautiful. This is called the "naked king effect." Everyone is ashamed to say that this is bullshit, because they will laugh.

And the most primitive design - a square - can be ascribed with any deep meaning; the scope for human imagination is simply limitless. Not understanding what the great meaning of “Black Square” is, many people need to invent it for themselves so that they have something to admire when looking at the picture...

The painting, painted by Malevich in 1915, remains perhaps the most discussed painting in Russian painting. For some, “Black Square” is a rectangular trapezoid, but for others it is a deep philosophical message encrypted by the great artist. In the same way, looking at a piece of sky in a square window, everyone thinks about their own...

On December 19, 1915, at the “Last Futurist Exhibition of Paintings 0.10,” which opened in Petrograd, 39 paintings by Kazimir Malevich were presented to the public. In the most prominent place, in the so-called “red corner”, where icons are usually placed, hung the painting “Black Square”. Kazimir Malevich, who spoke at the exhibition, announced the advent of a new pictorial realism - Suprematism. The term “suprematism” (from the Latin supremus - highest, overcoming) Malevich called the highest and final stage of art, the essence of which is to go beyond traditional boundaries, beyond the limits of the visible, intelligible world.

You don't have to be a great artist to draw a black square and place it on a white background. A square is the most elementary geometric figure, black and white are the most elementary colors. Probably anyone can draw this. But here’s a riddle: “Black Square” is the most famous painting in the world. It excites the minds of millions of people, causes heated debate, and attracts a lot of researchers and art lovers. Why is this happening? Until now, the answer to this question has not been found.

Many researchers have tried to unravel the mystery of the “Black Square”. What conclusions did they come to? There are many of them. Here are the five main ones.

"Black Square" is:

1. A gloomy and absolutely incomprehensible revelation of a brilliant artist.
2. An example of wretchedness, complete hopelessness, despair from one’s mediocrity.
3. An artificially inflated fetish, behind which there is no secret.
4. The act of self-assertion of the satanic principle
5. Jewish symbol.

Unfortunately, none of the researchers went beyond a superficial understanding of the picture. They saw only what lay on the surface of the picture, that is, only a black square.

Kazimir Malevich himself has repeatedly stated that the painting was made by him under the influence of the unconscious, or rather, under the influence of “cosmic consciousness.” Consequently, the picture should be perceived not by consciousness, but by the subconscious. “Black Square” is not just a painting, “Black Square” is a symbol of cosmic consciousness.

All researchers did not take into account the simplest truth, namely, the law of descriptive geometry, which states: only a plane can really be displayed on a plane. The painting is a plane, which means that only a flat figure can really be depicted on it: a square. People with underdeveloped imagination see in the “Black Square” only a square, and nothing more. But Malevich made it clear to everyone that this was not just a black square, but a Suprematist black square. That is, when considering this picture, one should go beyond traditional perception, go beyond the visible.


Go beyond the visible, and you will understand that in front of you is not a black square, but a multi-colored cube. This is the secret of the famous painting. The secret meaning embedded in the “Black Square” can be briefly formulated as follows: the world around us, only at the first, superficial glance, looks flat and black and white. If a person perceives the world three-dimensionally and in all its colors, his life will change dramatically. Millions of people who were instinctively drawn to this painting subconsciously felt the volume and colorfulness of the “Black Square”, but they lacked the imagination to take the last step towards understanding the brilliant canvas.


Let's take this final step together. Look at the picture. There is a black square before your eyes. Flat one-color figure. But maybe this is the front side of a multi-colored cube? After all, we know that if you look strictly frontally at a three-dimensional object, you may get a false impression of its plane. Shift your point of view. Go beyond the visible. Try to see the top side of the cube with cosmic vision. If you succeed, you will see that the top side is blue. It symbolizes the sky and heights. Now let's look at the underside of the cube. This side is green. Green is the color of spring, nature and youth. If you can see the top and bottom of the cube, it will be easier to see the sides. The two sides of the cube are yellow and red. The right side is yellow, the color of the sun and summer. The left side is red, the color of fire, warmth and love. The hardest thing is to see the back of the cube. To do this, it is not enough to look a little higher, a little lower, or a little from the side. To do this, we must mentally move to the opposite side. We must change our point of view 180 degrees. If this works, then behind the front black side we will see the back white side. White is the color of wisdom, truth and purity. Black is the color of death, evil and emptiness.

Black color absorbs all other colors, so it is quite difficult to see a multi-colored cube in a black square. And to see the white behind the black, the truth behind the lies, life behind death is many times more difficult. But the one who manages to do this will discover a great philosophical formula.

“Black Square” is not a painting in the generally known sense of the word. “Black Square” is an encrypted message from the great philosopher Kazimir Malevich, not the artist. Having understood the true essence of this message, this formula of harmony, you will be able to take a different look at the world around you. Look at everything from different points of view, and all the beauty of the COLORFUL world will be revealed to you.