Suprematism 1915

Kazimir Malevich made this painting, Suprematism, with oil on canvas. It’s pure painting, right? A collection of geometric shapes suspended in what feels like this endless, pale, off-white space. The shapes are solid, opaque, and clearly defined, with no gradations of tone. Look at the way the colors sit next to each other, creating these stark contrasts that really vibrate. The surface is quite matte, which makes the colors feel very direct and present, like they’re not trying to trick you or anything. The bright red cross is particularly interesting, cutting across the composition with these sharp, linear edges. You get the feeling that Malevich wasn't trying to express anything emotional but more creating a system of pure form, reducing painting to its most essential elements. Mondrian’s work has this same kind of reductive quality. Both artists were trying to find some kind of universal language through pure abstraction, it's like they were trying to strip away all the unnecessary stuff and get down to the bare bones of seeing.