Why Russian Paintings Are Expensive

Many are outraged by artworks like the black square. I mean, think about it. Why is a black square even considered art? Some would even argue that the artist did not even bother to add color to this piece of canvas, and yet, despite the many objections, this art sold for 60 million. US Dollars.

The question is, do you really need beauty to express art? Let’s dive in.

The painter of that was Malevich, a russian painter in 1915 that created the first idea, that art does not need to copy reality. Because there was already a tool for that,

its called the camera.

Malevich thought that the artist was free to depict the world in any way he/she wanted to, and that the artist should not be limited in reality, and how an object was supposed to look like and all that. To Malevich, art is freedom, and the mere act of constraining the art into what we see in reality such as trees, or nature, is in fact, the opposite of freedom.

Now, if you don’t know Malevich, don’t fret coz you’ll probably be familiar with his created styles. In fact, Malevich was the pioneer in abstract art, and he also had contributions that led to the following art styles:
impressionism in 1904
pointellism in 1907
symbolism in the same year, that is 1907
post impressionism in 1908
fauvism in 1911
and cubism in 1913

After 20 years, in 1933 he also settled on realistic works with neoclassicism in his painting called the “worker” and in the following year, 1934, he made a portrait of a lady.

He even invented his own school of art called suprematism.

Malevich is an astounding icon in art history and world antiquity. but the story of the black square doesn’t stop there. You see, the Malevich narrative is only half of why art critics behold such value. The story of how the painting was created in the first place gets even more interesting.

2 years before the black square, 1913, Malevich was tasked to work on murals for an opera that was named Victory Over The Sun. He collaborated with 3 other Russian artists who were part of the opera.

See.. that’s the thing with collaboration, because since it is literally a shared work effort between many people, it raises the value of any certain thing.
Except for garbage.

I mean, think of the basic smartphone for example. Designers in California, artists if you will, draw the first prototype of a phone. TSMC creates the chips, Samsung creates the display panels, LG for certain GPS navigation and power modules, and finally companies like Packlane, U-line and Box Bro make the shiny boxes that sets the mood for your unboxing experience.

Collaboration is part of the reason why smartphones are usually expensive.

During this opera thingy, at some point, Malevich had the concept of creating a solar eclipse, coz remember the title was “Victory Over The Sun”, and while doing this solar eclipse, he kind of stumbled upon the idea of superimposing a black cross over a black circle which was essentially a black cross with an inner circle. Fast forward 2 years later, in 1915, he made the black square.

So to summarize, the decision to create the black square in the first place wasn’t a simple road. Critics know this because they dig into history and the actual path to how the art was created in the first place, while some people, who didn’t really know what went on behind the scenes, were outraged.

Kinda like that math joke where you are asked to find x and you say, “here it is”, but the point of actually finding x is to go thru the complex process of proving and computing the value of x.

THE MEANING OF THAT UNKNOWN X THINGY. In the case of art, well, the meaning of art.

Plus, oftentimes, it is only after the artist’s death that the prices skyrocket.

Other reasons why certain artworks have reached an unbelievable price might also include being the last surviving piece from a war, or the only piece that was made for a king, and these are often tied to the culture itself that the piece belonged to.

The backstory of every art clearly defines the perceived value of art and its also the reason why people are compelled to the idea of collecting art in the first place. Its like holding a significant piece of history, and bearing the feeling of warm pride when a certain piece of time is hanging in your living room.