malevich on the boulevard dated-1903 Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935)
Kazimir Malevich – malevich on the boulevard dated-1903
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Painter: Kazimir Malevich
Location: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (Государственный Русский Музей).
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For Kazimir Malevich, the 1930s are characterized by his study of Impressionist theory. It was during this period that he wrote works that resembled the Impressionists of France in their style. According to the artist, Impressionism is considered the beginning and the basis of the painting of the new age. During this period, the painter is engaged in painting several canvases devoted to boulevard themes.
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Description of the painting "On the Boulevard" by Kazimir Malevich
For Kazimir Malevich, the 1930s are characterized by his study of Impressionist theory. It was during this period that he wrote works that resembled the Impressionists of France in their style. According to the artist, Impressionism is considered the beginning and the basis of the painting of the new age.
During this period, the painter is engaged in painting several canvases devoted to boulevard themes. Through these paintings of his, we see how he expressed his thoughts and feelings. "On the Boulevard" expresses exactly that. All of Kazimir Malevich’s works in his earlier periods are well painted, even if the artist painted this work in a sprawling, careless stroke. The author pursued one single, in his opinion, the main goal - to convey the perspective space, which goes away from the viewer.
The painting has no main characters. We learn about this even from the very title of the painting. The face of the woman depicted in the foreground has no clear boundaries, it is not prescribed. It is a typical Malevich image of a woman, a young girl who has decided to sit down for a while and relax on a park bench on a warm summer day. Although her clothes are painted in a realistic manner, the viewer cannot sense her character or guess her mood. It is a kind of symbolic image that the artist used to make the composition of the work.
In the background is a landscape in the style of Impressionism. We see beautiful trees that are painted with careless strokes of blue and yellow.
The people walking leisurely along the boulevard are not clearly painted, you can not understand what their faces are, they have no personality. The artist managed to convey the human bustle.
"On the Boulevard" is a symbolic painting that was meant to convey all of Malevich’s secret thoughts about whether or not there is meaning in human existence.
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The artist employed a vibrant palette, utilizing short, broken brushstrokes to capture the play of light and shadow across the scene. The colors are not blended smoothly; instead, they remain distinct, contributing to a textured surface that conveys a sense of immediacy and movement. A warm, reddish-brown path leads the eye into the composition, drawing attention towards the figures in the middle ground.
A woman in a pink dress occupies a prominent position near the foreground. She is seated on a bench, her posture suggesting contemplation or quiet observation of the activity around her. Her placement draws focus and invites speculation about her role within this public space – is she a participant or an observer?
The figures are rendered with a degree of abstraction; individual features are not sharply defined, instead they appear as generalized forms contributing to the overall impression of a lively crowd. This lack of precise detail lends a certain anonymity to the subjects, transforming them from individuals into representatives of urban society.
Subtly, theres an underlying sense of transience and ephemerality. The fleeting nature of a moment in public life is captured through the energetic brushwork and the blurred outlines of the figures. It’s not merely a depiction of a place; it seems to be about capturing a feeling – the vibrancy and anonymity of urban existence at the turn of the century. The painting conveys an impression of modernity, reflecting a society undergoing rapid social and technological change.