Introduction
The title promises a football player. The painting gives us a tilted violet plane near the top, a yellow form crossed by a blue bar, dark blocks, two red marks and a small green circle against a wide white field. No body, ball or pitch is described in the usual sense. Kazimir Malevich's Painterly Realism of a Football Player—Color Masses in the 4th Dimension asks viewers to consider what a painting can make real through colour, placement and surface, even when it has stopped imitating visible objects. [1], [2], [3]
This is the Art Institute of Chicago's canvas 2011.1, dated summer/fall 1915. It was shown at the first major Suprematist presentation, the 0.10 exhibition in Petrograd, as catalogue number 40. Museum records and a detailed scientific study make this an unusually well-documented early abstraction: they trace how Malevich planned and revised its forms, what materials he used, and even how he displayed it in different orientations. Those facts help separate the actual oil painting from the idea that geometric art was simply drawn as a clean diagram. [1], [3]
At a Glance
- ArtistKazimir Malevich (1879–1935)
- Museum titlePainterly Realism of a Football Player—Color Masses in the 4th Dimension
- DateSummer/fall 1915
- MediumOil on canvas
- Original dimensions71 × 44.5 cm
- Present dimensions70.2 × 44.1 cm
- CollectionArt Institute of Chicago, accession 2011.1; artwork ID 207293
- First documented exhibition0.10: The Last Futurist Exhibition of Painting, Petrograd, 1915–16, catalogue no. 40
- AcquisitionFrom Malevich's heirs, January 2011
Contents
- What is actually on the canvas?
- Why call this a football player and “painterly realism”?
- The 0.10 exhibition and the question of orientation
- What technical study found beneath the simple forms
- From Malevich's studio to Chicago
Where this work sits in Malevich’s career
The Knife Grinder
1912–13White on White
1918Sportsmen (Russian Museum canvas)
1928–1932Girl with a Comb in Her Hair
1932–33Girl with a Red Staff
1932–33Watch: Kazimir Malevich
Three short films place Black Square, the 1915 exhibition and Malevich’s later work in context.
Kazimir Malevich | TateShots
A curator introduces Black Square, the 0.10 exhibition and Malevich’s later work.
Watch on YouTubeWhat is actually on the canvas?
The composition divides into two broad concentrations. A large violet parallelogram occupies the upper part, angled against the otherwise upright format. Lower down, a yellow trapezoid rises behind a blue bar, while a black square-like block sits to its left. Smaller black and red shapes lead the eye toward a green circle near the lower edge. The areas between them are unusually generous. White is a painted field, not merely blank paper waiting for an image. [1], [3], [4]
The violet plane is the first strong interruption of that white. It seems suspended without a visible means of support, yet its long sides and tilted base give it direction. There is no painted horizon to say whether it is “above” the other shapes in a landscape sense. The blue bar below establishes a different direction, crossing the canvas closer to horizontal but dipping slightly at the right. A viewer moving from violet to blue makes a change of angle and scale. [4]
Yellow stands just behind the blue bar. The two colours meet in a way that might suggest one form crossing another, but there is no consistent spatial system with shadows and measurable depth. The dark quadrilateral to the left of yellow gives the lower grouping a weight comparable to the violet form at the top. Neither group occupies the exact centre. Malevich made a relation among dispersed parts rather than a single emblem enclosed by the canvas. [1], [3], [4]
Below the blue bar, a second black rectangle tilts in another direction. Two short red elements differ in size and position; then a small round green mark stops the descent. This sequence can feel like fragments dispersing, but that is a visual reading rather than evidence of an actual player breaking into pieces. The title does not require us to find a hidden diagram of limbs. Its challenge is to let coloured shapes act without converting them into illustrated anatomy. [2], [3], [4]
The full reproduction also shows that seemingly uniform areas are not perfectly uniform. White passages have texture, and some edges show the physical act of applying paint. At a small screen size the painting can look like flat digital blocks. The Art Institute's technical study found a much richer set of surfaces and adjustments, including differences between the upper and lower white fields. That difference matters because “painterly” in the title is an invitation to look at the paint itself. [3], [4]
The composition has sometimes been hung with the violet plane at the bottom, which changes this reading at once. With violet below, what seems here to float at the top becomes a strong lower anchor; the red and green marks rise above it. The presence of more than one historical orientation warns against treating the current top-to-bottom path as Malevich's only intended sequence. The full work stays the same canvas, but the eye's route changes when it turns. [1], [3]
Why call this a football player and “painterly realism”?
Malevich put “Football Player” on the reverse of the canvas and dated it 1915. The longer exhibition title joins that familiar subject with “Color Masses in the 4th Dimension.” At 0.10, he explained that titles drawn from real things were not instructions to seek their recognizable forms inside the paintings. His point was that an ordinary subject could be a starting ground from which a picture of colour masses was made, unrelated to nature as depiction. [2], [3]
“Realism” therefore carries a different meaning from lifelike representation. The painted form is real as paint, colour and a relationship on a surface. The Art Institute describes Malevich's new realism as a break from observed reality toward geometric forms on textured white. This does not mean a viewer must deny the word “football” in the title. The contradiction is productive: it marks the distance between a named world of activities and the autonomous visual order Malevich was trying to create. [1], [2]
The fourth dimension was a live idea in early twentieth-century art and writing. The museum's interpretation treats it as a metaphor for a spatial experience beyond ordinary three-dimensional perception. The Smithsonian study places that language amid contemporary mathematical and philosophical discussion. It does not claim that the painted canvas literally displays a scientifically verifiable fourth spatial axis. The phrase announced an ambition to release painting from the usual rules of a view through a window. [1], [3]
The conservation authors note possible conversations with Cubist writing on realism and Umberto Boccioni's 1913 Dynamism of a Soccer Player. These are carefully framed art-historical connections, not proof that Malevich copied a specific form from those works. Boccioni's figure still relates to a moving athlete; Malevich's Football Player refuses the visual cues that let us identify a player at all. The title can remember an old subject while the canvas offers a different way of making motion and space. [3]
This makes the painting a useful companion to Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying. That 1915 MoMA canvas names another recognizable subject but presents colour planes rather than a depicted machine. Both works belong to Malevich's early nonobjective language, though they are separate objects with separate records and arrangements. The titles should not be read as picture-identification keys. [1], [5]
The 0.10 exhibition and the question of orientation
The Art Institute's exhibition history places Football Player at Galerie Dobychina in Petrograd for 0.10: The Last Futurist Exhibition of Painting, opening in December 1915, as catalogue no. 40. An installation photograph is listed. This is stronger evidence for its presence than a general statement that it “belongs to the 0.10 period.” It identifies the individual canvas in an exhibition record. [1]
The photograph also helps with orientation. According to the 2016 technical study's survey of known installations, the violet form was at the top in Petrograd in 1915 and Berlin in 1927. It was at the bottom in Moscow in 1920 and Warsaw in 1927. These are four displays during Malevich's lifetime, not a later accidental rotation introduced by a modern website. The museum's exhibition history independently flags the reversed orientation for the 1920 Moscow and 1927 Warsaw shows. [1], [3]
Why would he change it? The surviving record confirms the orientations; it does not supply a single definitive explanation of his decision each time. The Art Institute notes that he sometimes refused to assign a precise “top” or “bottom” to such works. The change can be understood as part of his broader questioning of fixed viewpoints, but it should not become a claim that he intended every conceivable rotation to be equivalent. For this painting, the four documented installations support two particular directions. [1], [3]
The painting's current museum image uses violet at the top. That matches two of the documented early appearances and provides a clear reference for this page's description. If a reader sees it inverted elsewhere, the inversion may reproduce a real historical hanging. A caption should state which direction is shown rather than present a rotated image as a different painting. The purple plane, yellow-blue crossing and green circle together make a reliable identity check even when their vertical order is reversed. [1], [3], [4]
The 0.10 exhibition itself presented Malevich's new paintings across a room, with Black Square above in a corner. Football Player was part of that cluster of early Suprematist works. Looking at one work alone can obscure the dialogue among many canvases at different scales and orientations. Nevertheless, the specific evidence for Football Player—catalogue no. 40 and installation record—allows this article to discuss its participation without guessing from the famous photograph of Black Square alone. [1], [3]
What technical study found beneath the simple forms
In 2016, Maria Kokkori, Stephanie D'Alessandro, Kristin Lister and Francesca Casadio published a detailed noninvasive study of this painting. They combined X-ray imaging, infrared reflectography, ultraviolet examination, microscopy and surface spectroscopy. These methods did different jobs: some revealed earlier drawn lines or changes below visible paint, while others helped identify pigments and binders. The findings belong to this canvas, not automatically to every Malevich square or Suprematist picture. [3]
The support is a relatively fine plain-weave linen canvas on a nonstandard wooden stretcher. Malevich worked over a thin ground containing lead white and chalk, which left the fabric texture perceptible. He sketched the forms in charcoal. A second, zinc-white layer helped establish the light field around them. The “white background” is therefore built from material layers with different roles; it is not a raw, empty patch of canvas. [3]
The investigators found revisions. X-rays and infrared images show that some dark lower shapes were reconsidered. The black square-like element was enlarged by more than a centimetre in each direction, bringing parts of the composition into a closer group. A black rectangle was also planned narrower before its visible form took shape. These changes matter because the final design looks so decisive. They show Malevich adjusting proportions while making the work rather than transferring a single immutable plan. [3]
A card or straightedge helped define coloured borders. The researchers report impressions left where card edges touched paint that was still partly wet. They also observed varied brushwork, flattened points in white paint and fingerprints in the white above the black square. None of that makes the picture careless. It shows hands-on control of the surface. The sharp edge was a worked effect achieved through tools, timing and revision. The protected conservation photographs in the study document these traces; this page links to the paper rather than republishing its figures. [3]
The white paint was handled differently in different regions. Around the lower grouping, the authors describe short, energetic applications of thicker paint, while the more open upper area shows broader, more fluid strokes. Such differences are hard to perceive in a compressed web image. They complicate the easy phrase “flat white background.” The work has a differentiated field whose texture and gloss affect how the colour masses appear. [3]
The material findings are specific. The study identifies zinc white over a lead-white ground; lead chromate in the yellow, vermilion in red, ultramarine in the blue bar, bone black in dark forms, and cobalt violet with some cobalt blue in the purple. For the small green area, a copper-and-arsenic signal points most strongly to an emerald-green type pigment, though the authors do not entirely exclude Scheele's green. These are research results with degrees of certainty, not colours guessed from a monitor. [3]
The purple form is particularly rich. Cobalt violet was costly in Malevich's milieu, and the study notes how he used thin parallel strokes and subtle texturing to exploit its transparency. Researchers also detected dammar resin locally on purple and green; it may be original and may have enhanced gloss or depth. “May” matters: the object was wax lined and varnished while at the Stedelijk in the 1950s, and a later synthetic surface varnish was removed. The present surface is evidence, but not an untouched 1915 surface sealed off from every later treatment. [3]
One surprising construction detail concerns the yellow form crossed by blue. Analysis suggests the yellow was not simply painted as one uninterrupted trapezoid and then hidden by a blue strip. The yellow passages above and below the bar have different layer relations, with white intervening in a staged process. The authors use X-ray fluorescence and infrared evidence to reconstruct that sequence. It is a good example of why visual overlap alone cannot reveal painting order. [3]
The green circle presents another cautious inference. In its analysed area the researchers did not detect zinc, unlike the other sampled coloured areas. They suggest it may have been the first coloured form positioned on the ground. That is a hypothesis grounded in material evidence, not a complete film of the artist working. A viewer looking at the finished composition would have little reason to assume its smallest mark came early; conservation can change what “first” might mean. [3]
The study also found metal carboxylates in some paints. Some may reflect original paint manufacture; others may be products of later chemical change. The authors discuss implications for conservation decisions, but do not say the painting is about to fail. Its relatively good condition was precisely one reason it was suitable for careful examination. A responsible account reports these findings without turning them into a dramatic claim about imminent deterioration. [3]
From Malevich's studio to Chicago
The painting was with Malevich when he brought works west for exhibitions in Warsaw and Berlin in 1927. He returned to the Soviet Union before the Berlin show ended and left the group in the care of architect Hugo Häring. The scientific study traces its transfer to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in the late 1950s. The museum's own exhibition history records its presence in the Stedelijk's first showing of that collection in 1957–58. [1], [3]
The canvas remained associated with the Stedelijk for decades. A 2008 settlement between the City of Amsterdam and Malevich's heirs returned five works to the descendants; the study identifies Football Player among them. The Art Institute's current provenance record gives the concise chain “the artist; by descent to his heirs; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, January 2011.” Together, the records explain both the long museum residence and the later acquisition. An old caption saying “Stedelijk” is part of its history, not its present collection location. [1], [3], [6]
The Chicago museum lists original dimensions of 71 × 44.5 cm and present dimensions of 70.2 × 44.1 cm. Both figures describe the same object. The sources used here document conservation treatment but do not provide a simple, conclusive reason for every millimetre of the difference; it would be speculative to invent one. For finding or citing the work, accession 2011.1 and museum artwork ID 207293 are the clearest identifiers. [1], [3]
Its history now includes a 2011 Gagosian exhibition created with the heirs and displaying the painting shortly after the Art Institute's acquisition. The exhibition page explicitly names this Chicago work. That additional record supports the acquisition context, while the museum remains the authority for present ownership, title and dimensions. Current gallery placement may change; the museum's live object record is the appropriate place to check before visiting. [1], [7]
Documented Malevich collection records
Explore 665 catalogued source objects from museums and archives, including 87 exact links to local artwork pages. Records include works, print impressions, book components and archival items; they are not a deduplicated or complete oeuvre. Medium labels are grouped into broad English categories. Titles link to local artwork pages where available.
| Artwork title | Date | Medium |
|---|---|---|
| "Front line soldier" (Ratnik 1-go razriada) | Δεκαετία 1920 | Photograph |
| [Le Cheval blanc] | [circa 1930 - 1931] | Painting |
| [Sensation du danger] | [1930 - 1931] | Painting |
| A Game in Hell, Petrograd, 1913 (2nd expanded edition) | 1913 | Book |
| A Game in Hell: A Poem (Igra v adu: Poema) | 1914 | Book |
| A Peasant Woman Goes for Water | 1913 | |
| A pork-butcher came around to Lodz and we said "Good day." From Lodz to neighboring Radom he passed, and left behind one sorry ass. (Podoshel kolbasnik k Lodzi / my skazali : 'Pan dobrodzi!' Nu, a s Lodz'iu riadom Radom / i ushel s podbitym zadom.) | c. 1914 | |
| Alogisme 1. Portret Moskovskoy Damy (Alogisme 1. Portret van een Moskouse dame) | 1914 | Drawing |
| Alogisme 2. Vis, zaag, lepel, telegraafpaal | 1914 | Drawing |
| Alogisme 22. Malorossiyanin (Alogisme 22. Een kleine Rus) | 1915 | Drawing |
| Alogisme 23. Sobol, koshka (Alogisme 23. Sabel, kat) | 1915 | Drawing |
| Alogisme 29. Derevnya | 1915 | Drawing |
| Alogisme 3. Chastichnoe zatmenie (Alogisme 3. Gedeeltelijke eclips) | 1914 | Drawing |
| Alogisme 4. Apteka (Alogisme 4. Apotheek) | 1914 | Drawing |
| Alpha | 1923 / 1978 | Sculpture or object |
| An Austrian was going to Radzivily | 1914 | |
| An Austrian was going to Radzivily | 1914 | |
| Analytical Chart | 1924–27 | Drawing |
| Analytical Chart | 1924–27 | Drawing |
| Analytical Chart | 1924–27 | Drawing |
| Analytical Chart | 1924–27 | Drawing |
| Analytical Chart | 1924–27 | Drawing |
| Announcement for Malevich's lecture in Orenburg | 1917-1920 | |
| Apple Tree in Blossom | c. 1930 | Painting |
| Architecton Alpha | 1920 | Sculpture or object |
| Architecton Gota | 1923 (?) | Sculpture or object |
| Architectonische constructie | 1917 (versie ca. 1925) | Drawing |
| Architectons and Figurines | Späte 1920er Jahre | Sculpture or object |
| Architecturaal-kosmische compositie | 1920 (latere versie (1927?)) | Drawing |
| Architectural construction | ca. 1917 | Drawing |
| Aritmetica | 1913 | Drawing |
| Aritmetica | 1913 | Drawing |
| Arkhitekton Zeta | 1926 | Photograph |
| At Harvesting (Marfa and Vanka) | 1928-1929 | Painting |
| Aveniriens | vers 1931 - 1932 | Drawing |
| Aviator | 1914 | Painting |
| Aviator v Pobede nad solntsem (Vliegenier in Overwinning op de zon) | 1913 (versie ca. 1929) | Drawing |
| Baadsters op de rug gezien | 1910 | Painting |
| Back cover from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Back cover from Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913 | Book |
| Bader | 1911 | Drawing |
| Betende Bäuerin | 1933 | Drawing |
| Biddende figuur | motief ca 1922, versie voor 1927 | Drawing |
| Birkenhain | um 1905 - 06 | Painting |
| Black Circle | c. 1923 | Painting |
| Black Cross | c. 1923 | Painting |
| Black quadrilateral | 1915 | Painting |
| Black Square | c. 1923 | Painting |
| Black Square and Circle | 1920-1921 | Drawing |
| Black Square and White Cylindrical Form | 1915 | Drawing |
| Black Square, Second State | 1915/20 | Drawing |
| Blacksmith | Study. 1933 | Painting |
| Blestifze (Pencils) | 1917–1918 | Drawing |
| Boer met baard | ca 1930 | Drawing |
| Boerenvrouw in het veld | ca. 1929-1930 | Drawing |
| Boerenvrouw met emmers | 1912 | Painting |
| Book of Selected Poems (Kniga izbrannykh Stikhotvorenii) | 1930 | Book |
| Boy (Vanka) | 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Boy wuth knapsack / Mal'chyk s rantsem | 1915 | |
| Brooch | 1920 | Sculpture or object |
| Brooch | 1920 | Sculpture or object |
| Bubnovy Valet 21. Boerenvrouw met kind | 1911-1912 (latere versie) | Drawing |
| Bubnovy Valet 40. Portret (van M.F. Larionov?) | 1910 | Drawing |
| Bubnovy Valet 41. Na uglu stoit apteka, lyubov sushit tseloveka (De drogist is op de hoek, van liefde droogt een man uit) | 1910-1911 (versie ca. 1930) | Drawing |
| Bubnovy Valet 42. Portret moei rodstvennitsy (Bubnovy Valet 42. Portret van mijn familielid) | 1911 | Drawing |
| Bubnovy Valet 43. Kop van een boer | 1912 (latere versie) | Drawing |
| Bubnovy Valet 44. Dansend paar | 1912 | Drawing |
| Bubnovy Valet 57. Lopende man | 1911 | Drawing |
| Bubnovy valet 8. Kop van een boer | 1912 | Drawing |
| Budetliyansky silach (Futuristische sterke man) | 1913 (versie 1915) | Drawing |
| Bêta | avant 1926 / 1978 | Sculpture or object |
| Car and Lady | Photograph | |
| Carpenter | 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Carré noir | [1923 - 1930] | Sculpture or object |
| Chelovek v ochkakh (Man met bril) | ca 1929 | Drawing |
| Compositie 1 z (Supremus nr. 67) | 1916 (versie jaren 1920) | Drawing |
| Compositie 10 t (Suprematisme: constructief moment) | 1917 | Drawing |
| Compositie 11 t (Supremus nr.18: constructievorming afhankelijk van de beweging naar een bol ) | 1916 | Drawing |
| Compositie 13 t (Supremus nr 38) | 1915-1916 | Drawing |
| Compositie 13 t (Supremus nr 38) | 1915-1916 (gedrukt 1920, annotaties jaren 1920) | |
| Compositie 14 t Oshchushchenie elektrichestva (Compositie 14 t Gevoel van electriciteit) | 1915 | Drawing |
| Compositie 15 k (Suprematisme) | 1916 (versie begin jaren 1920) | Drawing |
| Compositie 15 q (Supremus nr. 118) | 1918 | Drawing |
| Compositie 16 t (Suprematisme: groot zwart trapezium en vierkant tussen rechthoeken en lijnen) | 1915 | Drawing |
| Compositie 2 i (Suprematisme: gecombineerd gevoel: cirkel en vierkant) | 1916 (latere versie) | Drawing |
| Compositie 2 t (Verlengd vierkant met elementen overdwars) | 1915 (versie ca. 1920) | Drawing |
| Compositie 2 z Obshchushchenie magnita (Compositie 2 z Gevoel van een magneet) | 1916 (hernomen in 1919, versie jaren 1920) | Drawing |
| Compositie 3 t | 1916 | Drawing |
| Compositie 4 l Suprematisme van de geest | 1919 | Drawing |
| Compositie 4 t (Suprematisme: cirkel tussen rechthoeken en driehoeken) | 1916 | Drawing |
| Compositie 4 z (Supremus nr. 84) | 1916 (latere versie) | Drawing |
| Compositie 5 l Suprematisme van de geest | 1919 | Drawing |
| Compositie 6 d (Tekening verwant aan ‘Huis in aanbouw’) | 1915 | Drawing |
| Compositie 6 t Obshchushchenie vremeni (Compositie 6 t Gevoel van tijd) | 1916 | Drawing |
| Compositie 9 b. Fevralizm kak emotionizm (Compositie 9 b. Februarisme als emotionisme) | 1915 | Drawing |
| Compositie 9 h (Suprematisme: kruis en drie rechthoeken) | 1916 (versie 1920) | Drawing |
| Compositie 9 k (Suprematisme: zeven rechthoeken) | 1915 | Drawing |
| Compositie 9 t (Suprematisme: vier ruimtelijke elementen tegen een zwart trapezium) | 1915 | Drawing |
| Composition 1 e (Suprematisme: vierkant op diagonaal vlak) | 1915 | Drawing |
| Composition 1 t | [1916 / vers 1920] | Drawing |
| Composition 14 f | [1918] | Drawing |
| Composition 15 t | 1916 | Drawing |
| Composition 2 a | [1917 - 1918] | Drawing |
| Composition 3 z | [1919 / avant 1930] | Drawing |
| Composition 5 x | [été 1915] | Drawing |
| Composition 5 x | [été 1915] | Drawing |
| Composition alogique | [1915] | Drawing |
| Composition with La Gioconda (Partial Eclipse) | 1914 | Painting |
| Compositions 11 R | circa 1915–16 | Drawing |
| Construction 5 h | 1916 | Drawing |
| Costume study for the Budetlyan Athlete in Victory over the Sun | 1913 | Drawing |
| Cow and Violin | 1913 | Painting |
| Cow and Violin from On New Systems in Art (O Novykh Sistemakh Visk Usstve) | 1911–19 | |
| Croix [noire] | [1915] | Painting |
| Croix noire | [vers 1923 - 1926] | Sculpture or object |
| Dame | 1915 | Drawing |
| Dame an der Straßenbahnhaltestelle | 1913 | Drawing |
| Dame bij reclamezuil | 1914 | Painting |
| De gardist | 1913-1914 | Other |
| De houthakker (recto) / Boerenvrouwen in kerk (verso) | 1912 | Painting |
| De likdoornsnijder | 1911 | Drawing |
| De likdoornsnijder | 1911 | Drawing |
| De provincie | 1910 | Painting |
| De tuinman | 1911 | Painting |
| De vloerboeners | 1911 | Drawing |
| Der Häftling | 1930 | Drawing |
| Der Tod eines Menschen, gleichzeitig im Flugzeug und der Eisenbahn | um 1913 | |
| Desk and Room (legacy site: Bureau and Room) | 1913 | Painting |
| Dessin de Lissitzky d'après "Supremus n° 58, composition dynamique jaune et noire", 1916, de Malevitch | [1924] | Drawing |
| Deux plans de villes | [1916 / avant 1930] | Drawing |
| Deux plans en extension | [1916 - 1919] | Drawing |
| Diagramm | around 1917/1918 | Drawing |
| Die Hochzeit | 1903 | Other |
| Die Waschfrau | 1911 | Painting |
| Dorp | ca. 1906 | Other |
| Dorpje | 1908 | Drawing |
| Drei Köpfe | after 1930 | Drawing |
| Drie boerenvrouwen | 1917-1919 of eind jaren 1920 | Drawing |
| Drie figuren in een landschap | ca. 1928-1930 | Drawing |
| Drie naakte vrouwen en een kind, peren plukkend | 1909 | Drawing |
| Drie staande vrouwen | 1930 | Drawing |
| Drie vrouwenfiguren | ca 1905-1906 | Drawing |
| Druckstock für Holzschnitt | 1920 | |
| Dynamic Construction | 1923 | Photograph |
| Dynamic Figure from On New Systems in Art (O Novykh Sistemakh V Iskusstve) | 1911 | |
| Dynamic Suprematism | 1915/16 | Painting |
| Dynamisch suprematisme | 1917-1918 | Drawing |
| Een Engelsman in Moskou | 1914 | Painting |
| Een paar onder bomen | ca 1929 | Drawing |
| Elegant gezelschap in een park | ca 1908 | Drawing |
| Elementarer Suprematismus | 1917 | Drawing |
| Eléments d'architectone | [après 1924] | Drawing |
| Eléments non identifiés | [1923 - 1935] | Sculpture or object |
| Engelsman in Moskou | 1913-1914 | Drawing |
| Entwurf für das Gemälde 'Die roten Häuser' | 1910 | Drawing |
| Entwurf für die Bemalung der Pfeiler aus der Serie von Entwürfen für die Ausgestaltung des Roten Theaters in Leningrad | 1931 | Drawing |
| Entwurf für eine Deckenmalerei im Roten Theater in Leningrad | 1931 | Drawing |
| Eskiz k portretu Roslavtsa. Pesn golubym oblakam (Schets voor portret van de componist Roslavets. Lied van de blauwe wolken) | 1907-1908 | Drawing |
| Etude de paysan | fin 1911 | Drawing |
| Etyud suprematis 52 sistema A 4 | 1916-1917 (versie 1920-1927) | Drawing |
| Explodity (Vzorval') | 1913 | Book |
| Explodity (Vzorval') | 1913 | Book |
| Explodity (Vzorval) | 1913 | Book |
| Female Figure | 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Female portrait | ca. 1910-1911 | Painting |
| Female Torso | 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Female Torso | 1928-1929 | Painting |
| Figur mit ausgebreiteten Armen, ein Kreuz bildend | 1933 | Drawing |
| Figuren in Schwarz und Weiß | 1928/1930 | Drawing |
| Flower Seller | 1930 | Painting |
| Folio 1 from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 15 from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 17 verso from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 18 from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 19 from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 19 from Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913 | Book |
| Folio 20 from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 23 from Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913 | Book |
| Folio 25 from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 27 from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 27 from Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913 | Book |
| Folio 29 from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 31 from Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913 | Book |
| Folio 32 verso from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 34 verso from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 37 from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 4 verso from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 7 from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Folio 9 from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Footballer / Futbolist | 1915 | |
| Four Squares | 1915 | Painting |
| Fragmenten van een tekst over het suprematisme | 1927 | Other |
| From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism (Ot kubizma i futurizma k suprematizmu) | 1916 | Book |
| Front cover from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Fruit plukken / Overvloed | 1909 | Painting |
| Fuhrleute | 1909-1910 | Drawing |
| Full portrait of Malevich | 1931 | Photograph |
| Futuristische draak | 1913 | |
| Futurizm: dvizhenie cheloveka po lestnitse (Futurisme: beweging van een man op een trap) | 1919 | Drawing |
| Gebet II | um 1913 | |
| Gesellschaft in Zylindern | 1907 | Drawing |
| Girl in the Countryside | 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Girls in a Field | 1928-1929 | Painting |
| Gliad', pogliad' uzh blizko Visly. Nemtsev puchit, znachit kislo. | 1914/1918? | |
| Glyad, poglyad, uzh blizko Visly | 1914 | |
| Golgatha | around 1911 | Drawing |
| Gota | 1923 / 1978 | Sculpture or object |
| Gota 2-a | 1923 / 1978 | Sculpture or object |
| Grafik ... | ca. 1923 | Other |
| Grafik dvizheniya tvorcheskikh edinits v beskonechnosti | ca. 1923 | Other |
| Grammatica | 1913 | Drawing |
| Harvesting | Study for a painting. 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Head of a Peasant | Early 1930s | Painting |
| Head of a Peasant | 1928-1929 | Painting |
| Head of a Peasant | 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Hiëratisch suprematistisch kruis (groot kruis in zwart over rood op wit) | 1920-1921 | Painting |
| Houses of the Future Leningrad: Pilot's House | 1924 | Drawing |
| Huis, man, ladder | 1930-1931 | Drawing |
| Huit dessins suprématistes | [1917 / avant 1930] | Drawing |
| Huizen op het platteland | ca. 1906 | Other |
| Häuser und Kreuze (Golgatha) | 1930 | Drawing |
| I yu mane tor | ca. 1915 | Drawing |
| Igra v adu | 1914 | Other |
| Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1914 | Book |
| Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1914 | Book |
| Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1914 | Book |
| Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| II | 1913 | Drawing |
| Illustration for the book by Aleksei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov "Igra v Adu»" (2nd edition, Moscow 1914) | 1914 | |
| Ils vont à l'église | 1928 - 1932 | Drawing |
| Into Wagons of the French, German Corpses Were Tightly Wrenched; Their English Brothers Carried Kegs Stuffed with Germans Who Lost Their Legs | c. 1914 | |
| Izbornik stikhov s poslesloviem rechiaria. 1907–1914 gg. (A Selection of Poems with an Afterword by the Wordsmith: 1907–1914) | 1914 | Book |
| Jnitsa | 1913 | Drawing |
| K.Malevich, M.Matiushin, A.Kruchenykh, St.Petersburg, December 1913 | 1913 | Photograph |
| K.Malevich, M.Matiushin, A.Kruchenykh, St.Petersburg, December 1913 | 1913 | Photograph |
| K.Malevich, M.Matiushin, A.Kruchenykh, St.Petersburg, December 1913 | 1913 | Photograph |
| Kabarett | 1930 | Drawing |
| Kazimir Malevich lying seriously ill in his bed, shortly before he died | 1935 | Photograph |
| Kettle with lid | 1923 | Sculpture or object |
| Komposition mit einer Figur | after 1930 | Drawing |
| Konstruktion | around 1915 | Drawing |
| Kop van een boer, kruis, en landschap | 1928-1929 | Drawing |
| Kop van een boerenmeisje | 1912 | Painting |
| Kop van een boerenvrouw | 1913 | Drawing |
| Kopf | 1930 | Drawing |
| Kopf | around 1930 | Drawing |
| Kostüm für das Stück 'Maskenball' | 1913 | Drawing |
| Krestyanka (Boerenvrouw) | 1913 | |
| Krestyanka idet po vodu (Boerin haalt water) | 1913 | |
| Kubisme 25. Avtoportret (Kubisme 25. Zelfportret) | 1913 | Drawing |
| Kubisme 6. Wandklok | 1913 | Drawing |
| Kubisme 9. Molitva (Kubisme 9. Gebed) | 1913 | Drawing |
| Kubistische compositie | ca 1925 | Drawing |
| Kubistische figuur staand op de rug gezien | 1912-1913 (versie ca. 1925) | Drawing |
| Kubofuturistische compositie met piano | 1913-1914 | Painting |
| Kubosuprematismus | 1916/1920 | Drawing |
| Kuppel des Volkshauses in Leningrad | 1931 | Drawing |
| Lamp - Musical Instruments | Δεκαετία 1920 | Photograph |
| Lamp / Muziekinstrumenten | 1913 | Painting |
| Landscape | 1911 | Painting |
| Landscape | c. 1906 | Painting |
| Landscape with a White House | 1928–1929 in Gasper-Hulvat 2012; Christie’s groups work with early-1930s landscapes | Painting |
| Landscape with a Yellow House (Winter Landscape) | c. 1906 | Painting |
| Landscape with Five Houses | 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Landscape with house | c. 1905-1906 | Painting |
| Landschaft | around 1933/34 | Other |
| Landschaft (Der Winter) (Landscape (Winter)) | after 1927 | Painting |
| Lauf | 1917 | Drawing |
| Let's Grumble (Vozropshchem) | 1913 | Book |
| Liggende naakte vrouw met twee spelende kinderen | 1908 | Drawing |
| Lopende man met zaag onder de arm | ca. 1928-1929 | Drawing |
| Maaiende vrouw | 1913 | Drawing |
| Maaiende vrouw | 1913 | Drawing |
| Maaiende vrouw | 1913 | Drawing |
| Maaiende vrouw | 1912-1913 | Drawing |
| Magnetic construction | Drawing | |
| Magnetisch architectonische compositie | ca. 1920 (versie 1925-1926) | Drawing |
| Magnetischer Suprematismus | 1916 | Drawing |
| Male Portrait | 1933–1934 | Painting |
| Malevich archief | 1913-1927 | Other |
| Malevich with his students (UNOVIS) | Μάιος 1922 | Photograph |
| Man met zak | 1910-1911 | Painting |
| Manifesto handbill for the 0.10 exhibition | 1915 | Book |
| Mann in suprematistischer Landschaft | um 1930 - 31 | Painting |
| Mann mit Pferd | 1933 | Drawing |
| Manuscript with drawings, Page 27, 1 July 1916 | 1916 | Other |
| Maternity. Woman in Birth | 1908 | Drawing |
| Moederschap / Overvloed | 1910 | Painting |
| Morning in the Village after Snowstorm | 1912 | Painting |
| Muziekinstrument | 1913 | Drawing |
| Muziekinstrumenten | 1913-1914 | Drawing |
| Mystic Suprematism (Black Cross on Red Oval) | 1920–22 | Painting |
| Mysticus | 1930 | Drawing |
| Mystiek suprematisme (rood kruis op zwarte cirkel) | 1920-1922 | Other |
| Naakt met geheven handen | 1908 | Drawing |
| Nachtwandeling | 1909-1910 | Drawing |
| Nu i tresk-zhe, nu i grom-zhe byl ot niemtsev podlie Lomzhi. | 1914/1918? | |
| O Novykh Sistemakh V Iskusstve (On New Systems in Art) | 1919. (Prints executed 1910-1919). | Book |
| O novykh sistemakh v iskusstve. Statika i skorost' | 1919 | Other |
| O novykh systemakh v iskusstve. Statika i skorost' ( On New Systems in Art: Statics and Speed ) | 1919 | Book |
| O novykh systemakh v iskusstve: Statika i skorost’ (On New Systems in Art: Statics and Speed), Vitebsk | 1919 | Book |
| Ohne Titel | around 1904-1908 | Drawing |
| Ohne Titel | 1916 | Drawing |
| Ohne Titel | around 1931 | Drawing |
| Ohne Titel | 1916 | Drawing |
| Ohne Titel | around 1916 | Drawing |
| Ohne Titel (Untitled) | 1917–1930 | Drawing |
| Omslag van A. Kruchenykh en V. Khlebnikov, Igra v adu (Een spel in de hel) | 1913-1914 | |
| Omslag van Sezd Komitetov Derevenskoi Bednoty (Congres van Comités van Armoede op het Platteland) | 1918 | |
| Omslag van Troe (Het drietal) | 1913 | |
| Omslagontwerp voor Internatsional iskusstva (Internationale van de kunst) | 1918 | |
| Omslagontwerp voor N.N. Punin, Pervy tsikl lektsii (Eerste cyclus van lezingen) | 1920 | Drawing |
| Omslagontwerp voor Troe (Het drietal) | 1913 | Drawing |
| Ontwerp voor een architecton type 'Alfa' | ca 1925-1926 | Drawing |
| Ontwerp voor een architecton type Alfa | 1925-1929 | Drawing |
| Ontwerp voor een monument | ca. 1932-1933 | Drawing |
| Ontwerp voor een monument | ca. 1932-1933 | Drawing |
| Ontwerp voor een monument | ca. 1932-1933 | Drawing |
| Oogstende vrouwen/Het binnenhalen van de rogge II | 1912 | Other |
| Op de boulevard | 1910 | Painting |
| Opdoemende kruisvorm | 1917-1918 | Drawing |
| Ornements suprématistes | 1927 / 1978 | Sculpture or object |
| Ot kubizma i futurizma k suprematizmu. Novyi zhivopisnyi realizm (From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism: New Painterly Realism) | 1916 | Book |
| Ot kubizma k suprematizmu. Novy zhivopisny realizm | 1916 | Other |
| Ot Sezanna do Suprematizma. Kritichesky ocherk | 1920 | Book |
| Ot Sezanna do Suprematizma. Kritichesky ocherk. | 1920 | Other |
| Paard en koets in beweging | 1913 | Drawing |
| Painterly Realism of a Boy with a Knapsack - Color Masses in the Fourth Dimension | 1915 | Painting |
| Painterly Realism of a Football Player—Color Masses in the 4th Dimension | Summer/fall 1915 | Painting |
| Patriotic poster against the Germans | 1914 | |
| Patriotic Poster Against the Germans | 1914 | |
| Patriotic Poster Against the Germans | 1914 | |
| Patriotic Poster Against the Germans | ||
| Patriotic propaganda postcard with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Patriotic propaganda postcard with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Patriotic propaganda postcard with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Patriotic propaganda postcard with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Patriotic propaganda postcard with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Patriotic propaganda postcard with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Patriotic propaganda postcard with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Patriotic propaganda postcard with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Patriotic propaganda postcard with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Patriotic propaganda postcard with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Patriotic propaganda postcard with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Patriotic propaganda postcards with verse by Vladimir Mayakovsky | 1914 | Book |
| Paysanne | [1912 / 1932] | Drawing |
| Paysanne et deux enfants | [1911 / avant 1930] | Drawing |
| Peasant | Between 1930–1932 | Painting |
| Peasant bringing Water | 1912 (Thema), 1920er Jahre (Ausführung) | Drawing |
| Peasant in a Field | 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Peasant Woman | Early 1930s | Painting |
| Peasants | c. 1930 | Painting |
| Peasants | circa 1928 (NGA); 1928–1929 (Gasper-Hulvat) | Painting |
| Perfected Portrait of Ivan Kliun | 1913 | Painting |
| Peruyi Tsikl Lektsii | 1920 | Book |
| Pervyi tsikl lektsii chitannykh na kratkosrochnykh kursakh dlia uchitelei risovaniia (First Series of Lectures, Given at a Short-Term Course for Teachers of Drawing) | 1920 | Book |
| Plan d'éléments d'architectone | [après 1924] | Drawing |
| Planetaire constructie (magnetische kruisvorm) | 1916-1917 (ontwikkeld 1920-1922, latere versie (voor 1927)) | Drawing |
| Planetary-Architectural Suprematism | 1919-1920 | Drawing |
| Plate (folio 17) from Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913 | Book |
| Plate (folio 21) from Igra v adu (A Game in Hell) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Plate (folio 22) from Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913 | Book |
| Po utru iz Lvova vyshli | 1914 | |
| Pobeda nad solntsem. Opera (Victory over the Sun: An Opera) | 1913 | Book |
| Podoshel kolbasnik k Lodzi | 1914 | Drawing |
| Pokhoronnoe byuro (Begrafeniskantoor) | 1914-1915 | Drawing |
| Porosiata | Saint Petersburg: 1913 | Book |
| Porosiata (Piglets) | 1913 | Book |
| Portrait of a Youth | 1933 | Painting |
| Portrait of M. V. Matyushin | 1913 in gallery-magazine object record; 1913–14 in Tretyakov education page | Painting |
| Portrait of the Artist’s Wife | 1933 | Painting |
| Portret M.V. Matyushina (Portret van M.V. Matyushin) | 1913 | Drawing |
| Portret stroitelya usovershenstvovan (Verbeterd portret van een bouwer) | 1913 | Drawing |
| Portret van de vader van de kunstenaar | ca 1902-1903 | Painting |
| Portret van een jonge vrouw (waarschijnlijk Sofia Rafalovitch) | 1908-1909 | Drawing |
| Portret van een man (Aleksei Morgunov?) | 1912 | Other |
| Portret van M.V. Matyushin | 1913 | Drawing |
| Prayer | 1913 | Drawing |
| Prayer | 1913 | |
| Prayer | Study for a fresco painting. 1907 | Painting |
| Prayer (plate, folio 19) from Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Primitiv (Schuhmacher) | 1910 | Drawing |
| Prografachnik | 1916 | Drawing |
| Projekt einer kosmischen Anlage | around 1917 | Drawing |
| Quadrat und Oval | 1915/1916 | Drawing |
| Quadrat und Viereck | 1914-1915 | Drawing |
| Red Cavalry | c. 1932 | Painting |
| Red House | 1932 | Painting |
| Red Square | Undated | Drawing |
| Red Square. Painterly Realism of a Peasant Woman in Two Dimensions | 1915 | Painting |
| Reicher Mann | around 1910 | Drawing |
| Relaxing (Society in Top Hats) | 1908 | Drawing |
| Reservist of the First Division | fall-winter 1914 | Painting |
| Roar!: Gauntlets of 1908-1914 (Riav!: Perchatki 1908-1914) | 1914 | Book |
| Rotes Quadrat auf Schwarz | around 1922 | Other |
| Samovar | 1913 | Painting |
| Schema I: Construction of Axes of a Model; Schema II: Cubist Structure (Construction); Schema III: Cubist Constructed Drawing from On New Systems in Art (O Novykh Sistemakh Visk Usstve) | 1919 | |
| Schets vooor de opera Voyna (Oorlog): Topor molodets ne brekhal (de jongeman Topor heeft niet gelogen) | 1918 | Drawing |
| Schets voor de opera Voyna (Oorlog): Bas, day stakan (Bas, geef me een glas) | 1918 | Drawing |
| Schets voor de opera Voyna (Oorlog): gekruisigde tegen een lichte achtergrond | 1918 | Drawing |
| Schets voor de opera Voyna (Oorlog): gekruisigde tegen een zwarte achtergrond | 1918 | Drawing |
| Schets voor de opera Voyna (Oorlog): interieur met figuur en hangend kruisbeeld | 1918 | Drawing |
| Schets voor de opera Voyna (Oorlog): Odin tikho (een stille) | 1918 | Drawing |
| Schets voor een architectonische structuur | 1920-1921 (versie 1923-1924) | Drawing |
| Schetsboekomslag | Drawing | |
| Schneider, Allogismus, Aushang | around 1915 | Drawing |
| Schnitter | 1909-1910 | Drawing |
| Schnitterinnen | 1909-1910 | Drawing |
| Schnitterinnen (Reapers) | 1909–1910 | Drawing |
| Schwarzes Viereck | 1914-1915 | Drawing |
| Scène uit Anathema | 1909-1910 | |
| Segodnyashnye sooruzheniya | 1920 (versie 1923-1924) | Drawing |
| Segodnyashnye sooruzheniya | 1923-1924 / 2010 | Other |
| Selected Verse, 1907–1914 (Izbornik stikhov, 1907-1914) | 1915 | Book |
| Self-Portrait | Study for a fresco painting. 1907 | Painting |
| Self-Portrait | 1910–1911 | Drawing |
| Self-Portrait (Artist) | 1933 | Painting |
| Shel avstriec v Radzivily | 1914 | |
| Sieg über die Sonne 1913-1973 | 1973 | |
| Sieg über die Sonne 1913-1973 | 1973 / 2010 | Other |
| Simultaneous Death in an Airplane and at the Railway | (1913) | |
| Simultaneous Death of a Man in an Airplane and on the Railroad (plate, folio 15) from Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Sketch for "Vertical Suprematist Construction»" | Undated | Drawing |
| Sketch for a Stage Curtain for the Opera Victory over the Sun | 1928 | Drawing |
| Sketch for Agit-Train | περ. 1918 | Drawing |
| Slovo Kak Takavoe (The Word as Such) | 1913 | Book |
| Slovo kak takovoe (The Word as Such) | 1913 | Book |
| Smert cheloveka odnovremmeno na aeroplane i zhel. doroge (De gelijktijdige dood van een man in een vliegtuig en op de spoorlijn) | 1913 | |
| Sportsmen | 1928–1932 | Painting |
| Square and Cone | 1915 | Drawing |
| Staande boer | 1928-1929 | Drawing |
| Staande boer met emmer | 1930-1932 | Drawing |
| Staande boer met zeis bij het hooien | 1928-1929 | Drawing |
| Staande duivel | 1913-1914 | |
| Staande figuur | 1927 | Drawing |
| Staande mannenfiguur | 1930-1931 | Drawing |
| Staande vrouw en man Kop en schouders Vijf figuren met twee suprematistische elementen | 1918 (latere versie) | Drawing |
| Staande vrouw met de armen over elkaar | ca 1930 | Drawing |
| Standing Figure | 1913 | Drawing |
| Standing Woman | circa 1930 | Drawing |
| Stikhi V. Maiakovskogo. Vypyt (The Poetry of V. Mayakovsky. [Vypyt]) | 1914 | Book |
| Still Life | c. 1910 | Drawing |
| Stroyuschiysya dom [House under construction] | 1915–16 (museum); reverse inscription 1914 distinguished from execution date | Painting |
| Studie für das Gemälde 'Die Rote Kavallerie' | 1930 | Drawing |
| Studie nach Picasso. Entwurf für das Bauhausbuch 'Die Gegenstandslose Welt' | 1926/1927 | Drawing |
| Studie nach Picasso. Entwurf für das Bauhausbuch 'Die Gegenstandslose Welt' | 1926/1927 | Drawing |
| Study for the rear curtain for Victory over the Sun | 1913 | Drawing |
| Study for the rear curtain for Victory over the Sun | 1913 | Drawing |
| Summer Landscape (Zomerlandschap) | circa 1929 | Painting |
| Suprematicheskoe postroenie N 118 (Suprematistische constructie nr. 118) | 1917-1918 (versie 1920) | Drawing |
| Suprematisch kruis (klein kruis in zwart over rood op wit) | 1920-1927 | Other |
| Suprematism | 1915 | Drawing |
| Suprematism | 1915 | Painting |
| Suprematism | 1915–1916 | Painting |
| Suprematism (Supremus No. 56) | 1915-16 | Painting |
| Suprematism (Supremus No. 58) | 1916 | Painting |
| Suprematism, 18th Construction | 1915 (artist's reverse inscription reads 1914) | Painting |
| Suprematisme | 1917-1918 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme van de geest | 1919 | Other |
| Suprematisme. Oplossende constructie, vorm 78 | 1918 (latere versie (1927)) | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: Compositie 5 c | 1915-1917 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: drie overlappende rechthoeken | 1916-1917 (latere versie) | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: drie snijdende vlakken, vervagend | 1917-1918 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: elementen in wisselwerking, vervagend | 1917-1918 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: formatie van rechthoeken | 1916 (latere versie) | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: formatie van rechthoeken en vierkanten van verschillende grootte | 1916 (latere versie) | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: formatie van rechthoeken van verschillende grootte | 1916 (latere versie) | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: gevoelens van angst | 1917-1919 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: in tweeën | 1917-1919 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: krommingen en bogen | 1917-1918 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: magnetische rechthoeken in stervorm Vier kaderlijnen | 1917-1919 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: magnetische staven | 1917 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: ovaal en rechthoek Twee staande vrouwen in een landschap Man met hoed (zogenaamd portret van Larionov?) Boer Vier figuren | 1916-1917 (latere versie) | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: Ovaal, boog en rechthoeken | 1917 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: twee snijdende vlakken, vervagend | 1917-1918 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: twee snijdende vlakken, vervagend Suprematisme: drie snijdende vlakken, vervagend | 1917-1918 | Drawing |
| Suprematisme: zwart vierkant en witte rechthoek met rode strepen | 1917-1919 | Drawing |
| Suprematismus | 1912-1913 | Drawing |
| Suprematist Composition | 1915 | Drawing |
| Suprematist composition | c. 1916 | Drawing |
| Suprematist Composition | 1916 | Photograph |
| Suprematist Composition | 1916 | Painting |
| Suprematist Composition with Plane in Projection | 1915 | Painting |
| Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying | 1915 (dated on reverse 1914) | Painting |
| Suprematist Composition: White on White | 1918 | Painting |
| Suprematist Diagonal Construction 79 | 1917 | Drawing |
| Suprematist Drawing | (c. 1916-17) | Drawing |
| Suprematist Drawing | (c. 1916-17) | Drawing |
| Suprematist Element: Circle | (1923) | Drawing |
| Suprematist Elements: Squares | 1923 | Drawing |
| Suprematist interior decoration | 1920-1921 | Drawing |
| Suprematist Painting | 1916-17 | Painting |
| Suprematistisch schilderij (met zwart trapezium en rood vierkant) | 1915 | Other |
| Suprematistische compositie | 1915 (versie 1920-1927) | Drawing |
| Suprematistische compositie (met acht rode rechthoeken) | 1915 | Painting |
| Suprematistische compositie (met blauwe driehoek en zwarte rechthoek) | 1915 | Painting |
| Suprematistische compositie (met gele, oranje en groene rechthoek) | 1915-1916 | Other |
| Suprematistische Elemente im Raum | 1914-1915 | Drawing |
| Suprematistische Komposition | 1915-1916 | Drawing |
| Suprematistische Komposition | 1915/1916 | Drawing |
| Suprematistische Komposition (Suprematist Composition) | 1915 | Painting |
| Suprematistische schets | 1915-1920 | Drawing |
| Suprematistische Zeichnung (Plan eines Erdflugplatzes) | 1927 | Drawing |
| Suprematistisches Architekton | around 1926 | Sculpture or object |
| Suprematizm. 34 risunka | 1920 | |
| Suprematizm. 34 risunka (Suprematism: 34 Drawings) | 1920 | Book |
| Supremus No. 18 | 1916–1917 | Drawing |
| Supremus nr 51 | 1916 (versie 1920-1927) | Drawing |
| Supremus Nr. 38 | 1916 | Other |
| Supremus nr. 50 | 1915 | Other |
| Supremus nr. 58 | 1916 (versie begin jaren 1920) | Drawing |
| Sushchestvuet énergiya v sushchestve kot | ca. 1923 | Other |
| Sämann | 1910/1912 | Drawing |
| Tenhemelopneming van een heilige | 1907-1908 | Drawing |
| The Triumph of Heaven | 1907 | Painting |
| The UNOVIS way (Put' Unovisa) | Ιανουάριος 1921 | |
| The Word As Such (Slovo kak takovoe) | 1913 | Book |
| Third State of Being | designed in 1915, made in the 1920s | Drawing |
| Three Female Figures | Early 1930s | Painting |
| Threesome (Troe) | 1913 | Book |
| Thèmes pour des monuments architecturaux dans des parcs et sur des places | 1927 / 1978 | Sculpture or object |
| Tizian | around 1930 | Drawing |
| Tochil’schik Printsip Mel’kaniia (The Knife Grinder or Principle of Glittering) | 1912–13 | Painting |
| Toekomstige planits voor Leningrad. Het huis van de vliegenier | 1924 | Drawing |
| Toekomstige planits, huizen voor aardbewoners | 1920-1921 (versie 1923-1924) | Drawing |
| Toneelontwerp voor akte 1, scène 4 van Overwinning op de zon | 1913 | Drawing |
| Toneelontwerp voor Overwinning op de zon | 1913 (versie 1915) | Drawing |
| Torse féminin | [1908 / avant 1930] | Drawing |
| Torso (Figure with a Pink Face) | 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Torso (Prototype of a New Image) | 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Torso in a Yellow Shirt (Complicated Premonition) | c. 1932 | Painting |
| Transrationele compositie: geluiden | 1913 | Drawing |
| Trees | circa 1904 | Painting |
| Triple Portrait | Study for Socialist City (unexecuted). 1933 | Painting |
| Troe (The Three) | 1913 | Book |
| Troe (The Three) | 1913 | Book |
| Trois croix | vers 1930 - 1932 | Drawing |
| Trois dessins : tête de femme, buste et visage | [1908 / avant 1930] | Drawing |
| Troye | 1913 | Other |
| Tvorchestvo ne mozhet byt' svobodno | ca. 1923 | Other |
| Tvorchestvo ne mozhet byt' svobodno | ca. 1923 | Other |
| Twee duivels die een vrouw doormidden zagen | 1913-1914 | |
| Twee mannen in beweging | 1917-1918 of ca. 1930 | Drawing |
| Twee naakte vrouwen peren plukkend | 1909 | Painting |
| Twee vrouwen en een man tegen een lage horizon | 1930 | Drawing |
| Two figures with a stretcher | ca. 1930-1931 | Drawing |
| Two Male Figures | Early 1930s | Painting |
| Tête noire | vers 1930 | Drawing |
| Universal Landscape | 1913 | |
| UNOVIS Questionnaire | 1920 | |
| Untitled | 1920 | Drawing |
| Untitled | c. 1920 | |
| Untitled | αχρονολόγητο | |
| Untitled | Undated | Drawing |
| Untitled | Undated | Drawing |
| Untitled | 1913? | Drawing |
| Untitled (Suprematist Composition) | circa 1919–1926 | Drawing |
| Untitled (Suprematist Composition) | circa 1919–1926 | Drawing |
| Untitled (Suprematist Cross) | 1920, printed 1973 | |
| Untitled, Illustration for the book by Aleksei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov "Igra v Adu»" (2nd edition, Moscow 1914) | 1913 | |
| Verdwijnend geel vlak | 1917-1918 | Painting |
| Verdwijnende constructie (diagonale balk met drie bogen in wit) | ca. 1917 | Other |
| Verdwijnende witte vlakken | 1917-1918 | Other |
| Verklarende kaarten over de theorie van het additionele of toegevoegde element in de schilderkunst | 1927 | Drawing |
| Verticale constructie, suprematisme | 1919-1920 (versie 1920-1925) | Drawing |
| Vier figuren in een landschap | ca. 1928-1930 | Drawing |
| Vijf geketende figuren op de rug gezien, geflankeerd door twee bewakers | 1910-1911 | Drawing |
| Vil'gel'mova Karusel' (Wilhelm's Carousel) | 1914 | |
| Vloerboeners | 1911 | Drawing |
| Voorstudie voor het omslag van het programma van het Congres van Comités van Armoede op het Platteland | 1918 | Drawing |
| Voorstudie voor het omslag van het programma van het Congres van Comités van Armoede op het Platteland | 1918 | Drawing |
| Voorstudie voor het omslag van Sezd Komitetov Derevenskoi Bednoty (Congres van Comités van Armoede op het Platteland) | 1918 | Drawing |
| Voorstudie voor het omslag van Sezd Komitetov Derevenskoi Bednoty (Congres van Comités van Armoede op het Platteland) | 1918 | Drawing |
| Voyna (Oorlog) | 1914 | Drawing |
| Vozropshchem (Let's Grumble) | 1913 | Book |
| Vrouw bij tramhalte | 1913-1914 | Other |
| Vrouw in lange jurk met kind | 1930 | Drawing |
| Vrouw met de armen over elkaar | 1931-1932 | Drawing |
| Vrouw met krant op schoot | 1904 | Other |
| Vrouw omgeven door vruchten | 1909 | Painting |
| Vrouwelijke figuur met uitgespreide armen | 1930? | Drawing |
| Vrouwenfiguur | 1909 | Drawing |
| Vrouwenfiguur met gespreide armen | 1930-1931 | Drawing |
| Vrouwenfiguur, vis, cirkel, kruis | ca. 1928-1930 | Drawing |
| Vsemirny peyzazh (Universeel landschap) | 1913 | Drawing |
| Vzorval | 1913 | Book |
| Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913 | Book |
| Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913 | Book |
| Vzorval' (Explodity) | 1913–14, published 1914 | Book |
| Wachthuisje, drie kruisen | ca 1930-1931 | Drawing |
| What a Rattle | 1914 | |
| Wilhelm Carousel | 1914 | |
| Windmills | ca. 1909-1910 | Painting |
| Wit suprematistisch kruis | 1920-1921 | Painting |
| Woman Reaper (front cover) from Slovo Kak Takavoe (The Word as Such) | 1913 | Book |
| Woman with Pails: Dynamic Arrangement | 1912-13 (dated on reverse 1912) | Painting |
| Woman Worker | 1933 | Painting |
| Women Bathers | Circa 1930 | Painting |
| Women Reapers (The Reapers) | 1928–1929; 1905 inscription separately documented by Gasper-Hulvat 2012 | Painting |
| Wraparound cover for the program S'ezd komitetov derevenskoi bednoty (Congress of Committees of Peasant Poverty) | 1918 | Book |
| Wäscherin | 1909-1910 | Drawing |
| Ya apostol novykh ponyaty b iskusstve (Ik, de apostel van nieuwe begrippen in de kunst | 1916 | Drawing |
| Zelfportret in twee dimensies | 1915 | Painting |
| Zeta | 1923 / 1978 | Sculpture or object |
| Zhnitsa (Maaiende vrouw) | 1913 | Drawing |
| Zittend naakt op de rug gezien | 1907-1908 | Drawing |
| Zwei Schwestern | around 1904-1906 | Drawing |
| «Живо заняли мы Галич...». | 1914 | |
| «Ну и треск же, ну и гром же...» | 1914 | |
| «Подошел колбасник к Лодзи...» | 1914 | |
| Весна – цветущий сад | 1928–1929 | Painting |
| Вильгельмова карусель | 1914 | |
| Голова крестьянина | Конец 1920-х | Drawing |
| Девочка под деревом. Этюд | 1932–1933 | Painting |
| Девушка с гребнем в волосах | 1932–1933 | Painting |
| Девушка с красным древком | 1932–1933 | Painting |
| Деревня. Три рисунка | 1928-1929 | Drawing |
| Динамический супрематизм | 1920 | Drawing |
| Динамический супрематизм. Аэроплан летит | 1920 | |
| Доктор Мабузо. Образец киноплаката | 1925–1926 | Painting |
| Ескіз розпису конференц-залу ВУАН в Києві (Sketch for the painting of the conference hall of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kyiv) | 1930 | Drawing |
| Женщина с граблями | 1930-1931 | Painting |
| Композиция с двумя прямоугольниками | 1920 | Drawing |
| Крестьянка | 1928-1929 | Drawing |
| Кубофутуризм. Динамическое ощущение натурщика. Авторская реплика композиций 1911 и 1919 года | Вторая половина 1920-х | Drawing |
| Кубофутуристический пейзаж | 1913 | Drawing |
| Лубок. «Вильгельмова карусель» | 1914 | |
| Лубок. «Глядь, поглядь, уж близко Висла» | 1914 | |
| Лубок. «Подошел колбасник к Лодзи» | 1914 | |
| Лубок. «Шел австриец в Радзивиллы» | 1914 | |
| На сенокосе | 1928-1929 | Painting |
| Пейзаж под Киевом | 1930 | Painting |
| Плащаница | 1908 | Drawing |
| Портрет А.А. Лепорской | Около 1933 | Painting |
| Портрет В.А. Павлова | 1933 | Painting |
| Портрет жены | 1934 | Painting |
| Портрет Н. Н. Пунина | 1933 | Painting |
| Портрет ударника (Краснознаменец Жарновский) | 1932 | Painting |
| Почтовая карточка «По утру из Львова вышли...» | 1914 | |
| Почтовая карточка. «Ах ты, милый город Люблин...» | 1914 | |
| Почтовая карточка. «Выезжали мы за Млаву...» | 1914 | |
| Почтовая карточка. «Выезжали мы из Ковны...» | 1914 | |
| Почтовая карточка. «Глядь, по глядь, уж близко Висла...» | 1914 | |
| Почтовая карточка. «Как заехали за Лык..» | 1914 | |
| Почтовая карточка. «Не ходи австриец плутом...» | 1914 | |
| Почтовая карточка. «Ну и треск, да ну и гром же...» | 1914 | |
| Почтовая карточка. «Скоро, скоро будем в Краков...» | 1914 | |
| Почтовая карточка. «Шел австриец в Радзивилы...» | 1914 | |
| Почтовые карточки | 1914 | |
| Принцип росписи стены | 1919 | Drawing |
| Сестры | 1930 | Painting |
| Смерть конного генерала | 1914 | Drawing |
| Станция без остановки. Кунцево | 1913-1914 | Painting |
| Супрематизм | 1920 | Drawing |
| Супрематизм | 1919 | Drawing |
| Супрематизм. Композиция с кругом | 1917-1918 | Drawing |
| Супрематическая композиция | 1917-1918 | Drawing |
| Три супрематических композиции | Начало 1920-х | Drawing |
| Туалетная шкатулка | 1913-1914 | Painting |
| Чашка (получашка) | 1923 | Sculpture or object |
| Чашка (получашка) «Супрематизм» | 1923 | Sculpture or object |
| Черный квадрат | 1929 | Painting |
| Черный квадрат (Black Square) | 1913 / circa 1932 in formal field; circa 1930–32 in museum essay | Painting |
| Черный супрематический квадрат | 1915 | Painting |
| ‘aF’ forma obema (‘aF’ vorm van volume) | 1915, versie 1924 of 1926 | Drawing |
Frequently asked questions
Is there a football player in the painting?
What does “4th Dimension” mean in the title?
Was it shown at the 0.10 exhibition?
Yes. The Art Institute records the Petrograd exhibition and catalogue no. 40, with an installation photograph. [1]
Was it ever displayed upside down?
What did conservation researchers discover?
They found charcoal planning, altered shapes, a layered white field, card-assisted edges and a complex palette including cobalt violet. X-ray and infrared imaging revealed changes invisible in the final reproduction. [3]
Where is the painting now?
It belongs to the Art Institute of Chicago, accession 2011.1, acquired from Malevich's heirs in 2011. Check the museum's object page for current display information. [1]
Discussion
What changes when you read the title before looking for a recognizable player?
Would turning the canvas so that violet is at the bottom change which shapes feel most important?
Reader Insights
Trace how the blue bar relates to the yellow form and nearby black square.
Which conservation finding most changes your first impression of a simple geometric design?
What can the documented display orientations tell us, and what remains uncertain?
Join the Conversation
Share a close observation about the colour masses, painted surface or documented history of this Chicago canvas.
References
- Art Institute of Chicago, Painterly Realism of a Football Player—Color Masses in the 4th Dimension, artwork 207293: official title, accession, date, original/present dimensions, provenance, interpretation and exhibition history, checked against the museum's public artwork API. View source.
- Art Institute of Chicago material published with its Google Arts & Culture object: museum-linked account of the 0.10 title and its nonliteral use; not an independent physical object. View source.
- Maria Kokkori, Stephanie D'Alessandro, Kristin Lister and Francesca Casadio, “Materials and Meanings: Analyzing Kazimir Malevich's Painterly Realism of a Football Player—Color Masses in the 4th Dimension,” 2016, in The Noninvasive Analysis of Painted Surfaces, Smithsonian Contributions to Museum Conservation 5, pp. 65–75: directly inspected technical study and historical record. Its protected figures are not reproduced here. View source.
- Wikimedia Commons, exact-work Google Art Project photograph: full-canvas visual reference, public-domain marked faithful reproduction; the museum's own API does not designate its hosted image public domain. View source.
- Museum of Modern Art, Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying (248.1935): separate 1915 work for title and formal comparison. View source.
- City of Amsterdam and Malevich heirs, joint settlement announcement, 24 April 2008: broad five-painting settlement context. View source.
- Gagosian, Malevich and the American Legacy, 2011: confirms Art Institute acquisition from the heirs and 2011 exhibition context. View source.
- Splash image: Kazimir Malevich, Painterly Realism of a Football Player—Color Masses in the 4th Dimension, summer/fall 1915. Oil on canvas, present dimensions 70.2 × 44.1 cm. Art Institute of Chicago, 2011.1. Shown here with the violet plane at the top, as in documented 1915 Petrograd and 1927 Berlin displays. Image: Wikimedia Commons / Google Art Project, public-domain marked faithful reproduction, resized for this page.










