Paris, France
The 20th-Century Avant-Garde : Artistic revolution and abstraction
By the end of the 19th century, Russia stood on the brink of major political upheaval, and these changes were mirrored in the arts. The 20th century saw the rise of the Russian avant-garde, a radical artistic movement that questioned the very foundations of Western art.
Two central figures of this avant-garde were Vassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich.
Kandinsky, often regarded as the pioneer of abstraction, abandoned traditional figuration to focus on shapes and colors. He sought to express pure emotions, free from any reference to visible reality, thus opening the door to a new artistic approach.
Malevich took abstraction even further with his iconic work Black Square on White (1915). This painting, a symbol of suprematism, challenges the very essence of art. By renouncing all forms of representation, Malevich proposed a geometric abstraction where only shapes mattered. This austere yet revolutionary painting became a key symbol of 20th-century avant-garde art.