Black Square (4th version) 1932

Kazimir Malevich made this dark, cracked oil painting, “Black Square,” sometime in the early 20th century. It's not just a flat, dull void; it's got this incredible, subtle texture, like the surface of a dried-up lakebed. If you look close, you’ll see the black isn't a perfect, uniform tone. There are layers, variations, and a kind of depth that pulls you in. It is as if Malevich wasn't just painting a shape but trying to capture a feeling or an idea. It looks like it was maybe scrubbed on? This isn’t the first black square, and it wouldn’t be the last. You can feel him wrestling with something big, something fundamental, which so many artists after him have also been trying to wrangle. It’s like he opened a door for all of us to think about what painting could be. And that door doesn't close easily.