FREE ESSAY ON MALEVICH'S RED SQUARE

MALEVICH'S RED SQUARE

Max Blythe
Humanities
LaMoure
MWF 8-9
Red Square
The painting Red Square by Russian painter Kasimir Malevich is a particularly interesting
piece. It is simple red square on a white background representing a peasant woman. It is
an example of the Malevich's unique style of suprematism, which focuses on motion and
feeling.
The painting was done near the beginning of the twentieth century when science was
developing at a rapid rate. Einstein's Theory of Relativity was gaining ground at the
time. Malevich's painting seemed to borrow from this theory that attempted to explain
relative motion. His suprematism style attempted to capture a neo-realism in painting
portraying pure feeling and perception. This new style was communicated by the discarding
of natural references. Malevich grew tired of painting in the traditional style with
everything looking and feeling the way they are in life. His new style tried to free
viewer from their traditional a priori views concerning shape and colors imposed on them
by their senses. Suprematist style focuses was on depictions of movement and dynamism.
Flight and anti-gravity fascinated Malevich. Much of his paintings were a top down view
of the subjects arranged on a white background. The white background represents infinite
space, while the subjects were reduced to geometric blocks. The message of the paintings
comes out in the relative position of the blocks to the background. The infinite
background of the paintings is to divorce the paintings from the finite earth. Malevich
himself said that his paintings do not belong to the earth exclusively. The paintings
sought to transcend to a different level. Malevich's suprematist style sought to take
people to the fourth dimension, which was pure sensation. 
This fourth dimension effect was reached by stripping away the distractions. Malevich's
art was made to be felt and he broke down complex characters into the simplest of
geometric shapes. The colors that he chose for his subjects were not the ones that were
true to life. He did this by choice to get past the human biased way of seeing an object.
He was trying to transmit pure sensation. The actual subject is irrelevant; the feelings
of it are the main focus.
With Malevich's Red Square a peasant woman is depicted. Here Malevich is not trying to
depict a pretty picture of a woman. Instead, he reduces the woman to a simple square and
transmits her essence. The color red perhaps could represent anger and the slightly
unsymmetrical lines of the square could represent unbalance. However, any analysis of
Malevich's suprematist paintings has to be viewed without biased. Previous knowledge says
that red is mad and unsymmetry means unbalance, so any analysis based on logic and a
priori judgement is suspect. Only the raw emotions of the woman are supposed to be
transmitted. Personally, I see the red square as an Russian babushka. The tilt of the
square represents her trudging way of moving and gracelessness. The bright red is an
extremely warm color, which is fitting for a Russian peasant woman. The white space is to
isolate her from the rest of the world and focus only on her. 
The Red Square is a fairly revolutionary painting. One complex subject is rendered down
to a single geometric shape and color. The main point of the painting is to express the
dynamic movement and pure sensation of the subject. This is what Malevich was trying to
get across instead of painting another pretty picture of real life.