1. Black Square
By the pioneer of the avant-garde Suprematist movement, Black Square may by Kzimir Malevich’s most famous piece. Malevich had discovered the art notion of “zaum”, a state where experience occurs outside the naturally perceived world. This led to Suprematism: a movement focused on geometric forms. Malevich would a sequel of sorts 5 years later, “Suprematist Composition: White on White”: a square canvas painted entirely white.
When Malevich died in 1935, his deathbed was exhibited with the black square above him. His tomb is also decorated with a black square, encased within a white cube.
2. The Treachery of Images
By Belgian artist René Magritte in 1928, the seemingly contradictory sentence has become famous in literary and art criticism. For those who don’t read French, “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” means “This is not a pipe.”The painting is not a pipe, but an image of a pipe. Magritte explained the reason as:
“The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it’s just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture “This is a pipe,” I’d have been lying!”
3. Fountain
Marcel Duchamp referred to his most famous work as an example of “readymades”, common objects that were modified slightly. Fountain is closely related with Dada, an art movement that criticized traditional standards.
Given the nature of Dada, it is difficult to know for sure what the “R. Mutt” signature on Fountain means. Duchamp himself said the R stood for Richard, French slang for “moneybags”, which makes Fountain, or “moneybags piss pot,” a scatological joke.
4. The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living
That’s a real Tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde in a vitrine. Created by Damien Hirst, a leading member of the Young British Artists, Physical Impossibility made Hirst the second most expensive living artist, having sold at $8 million.
In explaining the piece, the New York Times said:
“In keeping with the piece’s title, the shark is simultaneously life and death incarnate in a way you don’t quite grasp until you see it, suspended and silent, in its tank. It gives the innately demonic urge to live a demonic, deathlike form.”
5. No. 5
Jackson Pollock’s No. 5 is the most expensive art piece ever sold, at an adjusted price of $151.2 million. Pollock was famous for his unique technique of splattering wet paint on top of each other. The reason Pollock began to number his paintings, rather than name them, was numbers were completely neutral, and Pollock wanted people to look solely at his art.
