White Square 1917: Kazimir Malevich Suprematism

Kazimir Malevich once said, “The square plane marks the beginning of art Suprematism, which is a new color realism and an object creation…… The so-called Suprematism means the pure emotion or the supreme feeling in the painting.” After the denial of the painting’s subject, object, content, and space, simplification became the final performance. The consciousness of the people was shown in the close-zero content and the white science of the painting. “Nothing” became the supreme painting principle of Suprematism.

At the end of 1913, Malevich began to restrain his interest in the earth’s gravity and conquering the universe. He said in Maqiu book, “My new painting does not belong to the earth. The earth is like a ruined house and has been abandoned. Indeed, in the human body, in people’s consciousness, there is a desire for the space and a yearning get away from the earth.” In Malevich paintings, the theme about the universe and space flight began to be highlighted. Many of his works broke off the concepts of up and down although the forms were full of rhythm, as if to hover freedom in a vast imaginary space. The blue of the sky covered the space sight, so Malevich ripped the colorful awning. “I have broken the limit of blue color world,” he said with passion, “I turned to white, except for me, the pilot comrades, cruise in the infinite world. I have established the banner of Suprematism. The free white sea is lying in front of you.” When the space’s theme reached the peak, the white became the ultimate symbol.

In 1918, Malevich’s most famous work White Square was known to people. This work marking the end of the supremacy completely abandoned the elements of color. White became the incarnation of light. The white square on the white block was faint and difficult to distinguish the degree, which seemed to spread and reappear in the incandescent light in the atmosphere. Here, Malevich would seem to enter an area which was difficult to see by the naked eyes, observe by the heart and taste by the feeling. All the contemporary ideas about the space, objects and the universal law became meaningless here. The artist wanted to express a final liberation, namely some approximate Nirvana states, and that the small which was difficult to see the edge was the only concrete traces. This was the highest expression of the Supreme spirit. “Square (the will of the people, or people) got off its material nature and was mixed with infinity. All that was left was the dim traces of its appearance (or his appearance).”

White Square by Kazimir Malevich
White Square