malevich bather 1911 Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935)
Kazimir Malevich – malevich bather 1911
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Painter: Kazimir Malevich
Location: Municipal Museum (Stedelijk Museum), Amsterdam.
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All of the works by Kazimir Malevich painted between 1900 and 1934 were created primarily in the style of Suprematism. This is a whole system which was justified by the artist himself. It consists in the fact that all the artistic images were created solely by combining any geometric shapes. In his work "Swimmer," the artist depicted a rather clumsy man who is rewarded with flipper-like limbs. He runs toward the water.
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Description of the painting "Bather" by Kazimir Malevich
All of the works by Kazimir Malevich painted between 1900 and 1934 were created primarily in the style of Suprematism. This is a whole system which was justified by the artist himself. It consists in the fact that all the artistic images were created solely by combining any geometric shapes.
In his work "Swimmer," the artist depicted a rather clumsy man who is rewarded with flipper-like limbs. He runs toward the water. But as if seeing something, he is petrified, turning into a monument. The figure is depicted in colors that give it strength, power. We can see how the drawing is filled with brutal meaning, despite the fact that it is slightly deformed.
The work is drawn on paper using gouache. Today it is stored in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Kazimir Malevich used gouache at the turn of the decades. He managed to convey with gouache all the energy, expressiveness of his character. To do this, it was simply necessary to make an elastic outline, while slightly reinforcing it with colors, molded in the form of thickened volume.
The painting is filled with an incredible power of color. Despite the colorfulness, the picture itself looks anti-realistic, down-to-earth. Malevich wanted to show with this painting that it is an independent organism, which lives according to its own laws, no one subordinate. The only law that can affect it is the law of color. Malevich’s predecessors were the French Fauvists, who were called a bit wild by many for their use of the power of color.
Art critics have found a carnal beginning in the portrait image of the Bather. We see in the picture a kind of dance of the red devil - this is how the person depicted in the picture "Bather" is perceived. Malevich believed that it was in the dance that the human body could acquire forms of a kind of refinement, of sincerity.
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The artist employed a palette dominated by earthy tones – ochres, oranges, and greens – applied with broad, expressive brushstrokes. These strokes contribute to a feeling of raw energy and immediacy; they do not delineate form precisely but rather suggest it through color and texture. The figure’s skin is rendered in a range of hues, from deep reds and browns to pale yellows, creating an impression of both physicality and emotional intensity.
The background is equally significant. It isnt a clearly defined space but rather a swirling mass of color that seems to envelop the figure. This lack of spatial clarity contributes to the overall feeling of disorientation and psychological tension. The colors in the backdrop – particularly the greens and blues – suggest an aquatic setting, reinforcing the notion of immersion or emergence.
The posture of the figure is particularly noteworthy. His arm is raised high, as if grasping for something beyond his reach, while his body leans forward with a palpable sense of effort. This gesture could be interpreted in several ways: it might represent a struggle against an unseen force, a yearning for liberation, or simply the physical exertion of movement through water.
The painting’s subtexts seem to revolve around themes of human vulnerability and the search for meaning within a chaotic world. The figures isolation – he appears alone within this swirling environment – suggests a sense of existential questioning. The expressive brushwork and intense color palette convey an emotional depth that transcends mere representation, hinting at a deeper psychological narrative. There is a feeling of suppressed anxiety or perhaps even desperation conveyed through the figure’s posture and the surrounding visual turmoil.