by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 2, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Introduction
Kazimir Malevich's Composition with the Mona Lisa is a confrontation between an immensely familiar face and forms that refuse to behave like a conventional picture. A small printed likeness of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa sits low on the left, crossed twice in red. Above and beside it, a large black rectangle and a white rectangle command more space than the portrait. Bits of newspaper, written words, painted planes and a looping black line interrupt any attempt to put the fragments into one scene. The Russian Museum, which owns the work, calls it Composition with La Gioconda (Partial Eclipse) and dates it to 1914. Its object number is ЖС-440. [1]
The title supplies both the work's most recognizable borrowed image and its most open question. What exactly is being eclipsed? The Russian Museum reads the red crossing and the force of the geometric forms as an ironic reappraisal of classical pictorial authority. It also connects the written phrase “partial eclipse” to a real solar eclipse in 1914. Those are valuable curatorial readings, but the canvas does not come with a single documented key for each fragment. Looking closely at what is physically present, and separating that from later interpretation, makes the work more interesting than simply calling it a rejection of Leonardo. [1]
At a Glance
- ArtistKazimir Malevich (1879–1935)
- Museum titleComposition with La Gioconda (Partial Eclipse)
- Common English titleComposition with the Mona Lisa
- Date1914, according to the owning museum
- MediumCanvas, paper, oil and graphite pencil
- Dimensions62.5 × 49.3 cm
- CollectionState Russian Museum, St Petersburg; ЖС-440
- Recorded acquisitionReceived in 1991 from Nina Suetina, Leningrad
- Main imageFull-frame Commons reproduction of this exact Russian Museum work, resized for the page
Contents
- What is actually on the canvas?
- Why cross out the Mona Lisa?
- What does “partial eclipse” mean?
- Collage, paint and graphite
- Is this Cubism, alogical art or Suprematism?
- Where is the original, and what does the record settle?
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?
Start at the portrait. Malevich did not paint a new life-size version of Leonardo's sitter. He placed a small reproduced face within a larger field of objects and marks. Two red diagonal strokes cut across it, one around the face and another lower down. Her famous gaze survives the crossing, so the cancellation is emphatic without making the image disappear. The newspaper-like strip beneath the portrait carries an apartment-rental notice. It pulls the celebrated artwork into the visual company of ordinary printed matter. The Russian Museum identifies paper as an actual material in the object, while the reproduced image lets a viewer see the printed fragments. A digital image alone cannot establish every layer's attachment method. [1], [2]
The upper middle is dominated by a broad black rectangle. A smaller white rectangle occupies the central lower area and partly covers the transition from the black field to the dense collage below. Neither is a neutral background for the portrait. Their size gives them a claim on the viewer's attention at least as strong as the borrowed face. The Russian Museum makes this hierarchy central to its interpretation: the geometric forms appear at the same level as, or above, the Leonardo image in the composition. Whether one experiences them as a challenge, an eclipse or a new kind of pictorial value is a question the arrangement deliberately raises. [1]
There is more movement around those two large forms than a thumbnail suggests. Pink planes bracket the upper black area. Blue wedges cut through the middle. Brown, grey and pale forms collect toward the sides and bottom. Some have clear edges; elsewhere drawn contours, paint and the appearance of paper overlap. A black curved line loops through the lower centre and toward the right, joining spaces that the rectangles otherwise divide. Its graphic sweep leads the eye past the Mona Lisa without settling into a recognizable object. The work alternates between the authority of a block and the instability of a collage. [1], [2]
Look at the outer edges too. The canvas is not a perfectly isolated arrangement of clean geometry. Lettering reaches toward the left edge; light-coloured areas vary in tone; a signature is visible near the lower left. The two black and white rectangles may invite comparison with Malevich's later nonobjective works, yet their immediate neighbours are still named things: a reproduced portrait, a notice, snippets of language. In 1914 he had not eliminated such references here. Treating the large black area as an early version of the 1915 Black Square would flatten the very differences that this picture makes visible. [1], [2], [3]
Why cross out the Mona Lisa?
Leonardo's painting had become a shorthand for the prestige of Renaissance representation. Malevich chose a reproduced image of it, small enough to be handled like printed material. Across it he drew red lines. The Russian Museum describes this as an ironic reassessment of the Italian master and as part of Malevich's movement away from classicism toward what it calls New Realism. The point is about pictorial authority as well as one famous artwork: why should the reproduced portrait automatically outrank a painted black or white rectangle? [1]
The red strokes are visually direct, but “crossed out” does not mean “removed.” Viewers can still identify the portrait. Its recognizability gives the gesture its force. Were the source image unrecognizable, there would be little to challenge. The tiny scale matters too. A masterpiece known through copies becomes one fragment in a field where no single fragment holds the composition together. This reading follows the visible relations and the museum's account; it is not a recovered quotation in which Malevich explains precisely what each red line meant. [1], [2]
The museum reports a more startling alteration: according to Malevich, he originally inserted a cigarette between the Mona Lisa's lips, but that detail has since been lost. The current reproduction does not show a cigarette that readers should hunt for. The report is evidence about a former state of the work as relayed in the museum's account, and its loss is part of the object's history. It intensifies the irreverence of the gesture, yet a close reading of the surviving canvas has to be based on what remains. The museum does not use this short entry to supply a technical account of how or when the cigarette disappeared. [1]
One might call the picture iconoclastic, but that label needs care. The painting does not destroy Leonardo's original. It works with a reproduction, preserving enough of it to show what modern mass circulation has already done: the portrait can be copied, cut, pasted and placed next to other printed messages. The shock lies in making that famous copy share pictorial rank with block colour, advertisements and marks that would not have been granted equal status in a conventional academic painting. [1], [2]
What does “partial eclipse” mean?
The Russian words at the upper left translate as “partial eclipse.” Their position matters. They do not sit beneath the work as a tidy explanatory caption. They occupy the pictorial field, close to the dark rectangle and among other written fragments. The phrase can describe an act of covering: geometric masses obscure portions of the famous portrait and interrupt the surrounding field. It can also suggest that a historical idea of representation has lost some of its central place. The museum makes both the visual and historical possibilities relevant without establishing a rigid map from each painted part to a celestial body. [1]
The Russian Museum notes that newspapers in 1914 reported an actual solar eclipse. It proposes that the inscription registers that phenomenon and reaches beyond it to the viewer's encounter with a new pictorial language. This is a specific institutional interpretation, not proof that the painting is a documentary illustration of a named astronomical event. The word partial deserves attention: the portrait remains visible, and recognisable objects have not vanished from Malevich's 1914 art. What is eclipsed may be the claim that such objects must govern the whole picture. [1]
The same phrase occurs in Malevich's An Englishman in Moscow, another 1914 alogical work. The Stedelijk Museum identifies “partial eclipse” in that painting and in a drawing it discovered and identified as its preparatory sketch in 2017. This establishes that Malevich reused the phrase in a closely related period of experimentation. It does not establish that the Englishman and the Mona Lisa have identical stories, or that one canvas is a preparatory stage of the other. In the Englishman, words mingle with fish, church, person and spoon. Here a recognisable art-historical icon faces large geometric forms. The recurrence is productive precisely because the situations differ. [1], [4]
Other text fragments resist a single narrative. In the image, an apartment-rental notice and the words “in Moscow” place everyday printed language beside the inherited masterpiece. A large partly obscured word around the upper left does not behave like a normal sentence running from one side of the page to the other. Letter forms have visual weight as shapes; they interrupt and are interrupted by paint. The Commons image description offers readings of some Cyrillic pieces, but a full transcription from this web-sized reproduction would be overconfident. The point is not that language is meaningless. It is that the picture gives words, reproduced pictures and autonomous forms simultaneous but unstable roles. [1], [2]
Collage, paint and graphite
The museum records canvas, paper, oil and graphite pencil. Those four materials matter more than a generic label such as “oil painting.” Paper gives the printed Mona Lisa and newspaper fragment a different status from shapes made in paint. Graphite permits marks and outlines that need not fill a solid field. Oil creates the broad black, white and coloured areas as part of the painted surface. What appears seamless in a small digital image can be materially mixed in the object itself. [1]
This does not mean every pale rectangle can confidently be called an applied sheet of paper. The source record identifies the materials at work level, but the web image is not a conservation map. Some edges that look pasted may be painted; some graphite may be difficult to distinguish from darker printed or painted lines. The page therefore describes visible relationships and relies on the museum for the medium. There is no claim here about adhesives, exact layer order, hidden underdrawing or the physical causes of the lost cigarette. Those would require technical evidence specific to this canvas. [1], [2]
The use of an already printed masterpiece also changes the question of originality. Malevich's gesture depends on the cultural power of Leonardo's image, yet he uses a copy rather than trying to rival its illusionistic skill. Around that copy, he constructs a picture in which shape, inscription and mundane print compete for attention. The result is neither a single portrait nor a fully nonobjective composition. Its meaning emerges in the friction between categories that a traditional painting would often keep apart. [1], [2], [3]
Is this Cubism, alogical art or Suprematism?
The Russian Museum tags the object with Cubism and the avant-garde. The Malevich Society describes the artist's work of this period in terms of alogical combinations, collage, lettering and the move toward large planes of colour. Those categories identify overlapping methods rather than airtight compartments. Fragmented forms and multiple visual registers connect the painting to experiments associated with Cubism. The clash of a famous face, rental notice, lettering and outsized simple forms gives it the illogical encounter characteristic of Malevich's alogical pictures. [1], [3]
Suprematism provides a later comparison, but the 1914 canvas should keep its own identity. In Black Square, presented publicly in 1915, recognizable portrait and printed notice disappear from the main painted image. In Painterly Realism of a Boy with a Knapsack, two coloured geometric masses carry the composition without a pasted face. Composition with the Mona Lisa poses a different problem: can a simple form claim importance while a celebrated image is still present? The Russian Museum reads the work as a movement beyond “practical realism,” an account of artistic development rather than a reason to mislabel this mixed-media canvas a pure Suprematist painting. [1], [3], [5]
The comparison is especially useful because the black area in the Mona Lisa composition is a rectangle within a complicated vertical field. It is crossed by lettering and set beside other colours and collage. Its visual power does not make it the Tretyakov Gallery's first Black Square, nor a technical study proven to have been painted into that later canvas. As a reader moves between the works, the question is how Malevich changes the responsibilities of shape and reference, not how to turn every black form into the same object. [1], [5]
Where is the original, and what does the record settle?
The State Russian Museum holds the work as ЖС-440. Its current online record calls it Composition with La Gioconda (Partial Eclipse), dates it 1914, gives 62.5 × 49.3 centimetres, and records receipt in 1991 from Nina Suetina, Leningrad. “Mona Lisa” and “La Gioconda” are alternate names for Leonardo's sitter in titles for this same Malevich composition; they do not identify two separate paintings in this museum record. The route retains the familiar English “Mona Lisa” wording while giving the museum's title plainly. [1]
Older or other listings need not be silently harmonized. A Tretyakov Gallery magazine catalogue prints approximately 62 × 49.5 cm for the Russian Museum work. The owner record's more precise 62.5 × 49.3 cm controls the facts panel here. A National Gallery of Art conservation table published in 1996–97 calls a 1914 Composition with Mona Lisa a “private collection” object. That description conflicts with the Russian Museum's dated 1991 receipt and its current collection record. It should not be repeated as the current location; the available table does not establish why the inconsistency arose. [1], [6], [7]
The main image is a faithful full-frame reproduction of this exact work from Wikimedia Commons. Commons marks the 2,079 × 2,551 pixel file public domain and credits Artsy as its upstream source. For this page it was resized to 835 × 1,024 pixels, with no crop, enlargement, recolouring or detail annotation. The Commons status is not an express image licence issued by the Russian Museum. Dimensions, date, accession and provenance therefore come from the museum record, not the Commons description. [1], [2]
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
Did Malevich paint over the original Mona Lisa?
No. The Russian Museum describes a reproduced image within Malevich's own canvas, crossed with red strokes. Leonardo's painting remains a separate work. [1]
Why is there no cigarette in the image?
The Russian Museum reports that Malevich originally put one at the reproduced sitter's lips and that it has been lost. It is a reported former feature, not a detail visible in today's reproduction. [1]
Is the large black shape the original Black Square?
Was there really an eclipse in 1914?
The Russian Museum says contemporary newspapers recorded a solar eclipse and offers it as context for the inscription. The painting is not presented in its record as a scientific depiction of that event; the museum also gives the phrase a larger pictorial meaning. [1]
Where can I see the work?
It belongs to the State Russian Museum, St Petersburg, under ЖС-440. A collection record confirms ownership, not that the canvas is on display on a particular day. Check the museum's current visitor information before planning a visit. [1]
Discussion
Does the crossed portrait still command your attention more than the black rectangle?
What changes when you read the printed rental notice as part of the picture?
Reader Insights
Compare the size and position of the Mona Lisa fragment with the black and white rectangles.
Trace the two red strokes through the portrait and the curved black line below.
Notice where words function as readable text and where they act as graphic shapes.
Join the Conversation
Share one close observation about the portrait, a collage fragment, an inscription or the geometric forms in this exact Russian Museum work.
References
- Virtual Russian Museum, Composition with La Gioconda (Partial Eclipse), ЖС-440: owning museum's date, title, medium, dimensions, accession, 1991 receipt and interpretive essay; read directly. View source.
- Wikimedia Commons, exact-work file Kazimir Malevich, 1914, Composition with the Mona Lisa: full-frame 2,079 × 2,551 pixel image, public-domain mark and Artsy upstream credit; image and file metadata directly checked. View source.
- The Malevich Society, “About the Artist”: institutional overview of the 1914 alogical and collage experiments and the subsequent Suprematist turn. View source.
- Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2017 announcement of the Englishman in Moscow drawing: independent institutional evidence for “partial eclipse” in that distinct 1914 painting and its identified preparatory drawing. View source.
- Tretyakov Gallery, first Black Square: separate 1915 object used only for artwork comparison. View source.
- Tretyakov Gallery magazine, Partial Eclipse. Composition with Mona Lisa: historical listing with slightly different rounded dimensions; collection and date align with the Russian Museum record. View source.
- National Gallery of Art, Conservation Research 1996–1997, work table: historical title, date and medium listing; its “private collection” line conflicts with the owning museum's current record and is not used for current custody. View source.
- Splash image: Kazimir Malevich, Composition with La Gioconda (Partial Eclipse), 1914. Canvas, paper, oil and graphite pencil, 62.5 × 49.3 cm. State Russian Museum, ЖС-440. Image: Wikimedia Commons, public-domain marked faithful reproduction credited upstream to Artsy; resized full-frame for this page.
