Vantongerloo Georges 'Function' - 1938

“The idea is the form, the form the idea. The composition is conceived, ab initio, in plastic terms. It cannot be transelated into any other language, and is not itself a translation from any other language. The desire for ‘the new form’ as an independent organism was created by a feeling of discomfort in relation to the reproducing painting.” – The philosophy of modern art by Herbert Read, 1964.



Frantisek Kupka "Rising Force" - 1918

“The artist is not a slave to nature, or to the science of nature. His mind is emancipated – free to express, not himself (for that would still be a kind of slavery) but a new vision, a new order of reality, an ideal beauty.” – The Philosophy of Modern Art, Human Art and Inhuman Nature by Herbert Read, 1964.

Kupka’s  “Rising Force” was exposed for the first time in Paris 1990 - oil on canvas, 72 x 59 cm

Paul Klee "Von der Liste Gestrichen" (Removed from the list) - 1933

Paul Klee:  “Uns trägt kein volk.” – the people are not with us.

In 1937, the Nazis in Germany confiscated  102 works by Klee, of which seventeen were shown at the exhibition of Degenerate Art. His art was branded as 'degenerate', 'subversive' and 'insane'.
At his death in 1940 from an incurable rheumatic disease, Klee left more than 9000 works of art, as well as many writings, essays, diaries and many letters.

“Von der Liste Gestrichen” (Removed from the list), oil on cardboard, format: 31.5cm x 24cm

Location:  centrum Paul Klee, Bern, donation from Livia Klee.

Van Gogh self-portrait 1889

"When a reaction is primary, 'the idea' is no longer enough to motivate creation. Secondary response is perceived as a sustainable and orderly action of all experiences, which is equivalent to a large excessive broadening of the content of consciousness. "- reference Gerardus Heymans in edition of Denis Huisman 'Aesthetics' 1964

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gogh_self-portrait_(1889)

“The road to creativity passes so close to the madhouse and often detours or ends there.”

― Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death

Kazimir Malevich's 'Black Square' - 1915

‘Cosa Mentale’, a case of mind. The picture is absolute. It no longer represents, it simply is.

On his deathbed Malevich had been exhibited with the ‘Balck Square’ above him, and mourners at his funeral rally were permitted to wave a banner bearing a black square.

Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (Russia/Ukraine 1878-1935) - Black Square, 1915, oil on linen, 79.5 x 79.5 cm, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

“There will be always another spring, for in it lies the birth of a new universal step.”

– Kasimir Malevich on ‘Non-Objective Art and Suprematism’, 1919

Suprematist Composition: ‘White on White’, 1918, Museum of Modern Art, NY – OOC, 79.5 cm x 79.5 cm