From Dada to abstract expressionism to color-field to contemporary minimalists, there is one type of painting that shows up over and over again. The monochrome, multi-layered canvas. The monochrome painting is an exploration of one color only, though there may be other hues mixed and and textures added to the canvas it is truly a study of one shade. However, it has been said that this long celebrated type of painting (which has been critically upheld) began as simply a joke. One could point to the Dada movement for this, which almost always made art out of a place of jesting, either at the viewer's expense or the artist's.

Why is the monochrome so engaging? It has never truly taken over as a form of art and yet it remains there through decades of art movement, still grasping for life and finding it. The aesthetics of the monochrome painting are still seen as "contemporary." Although the form has been around for awhile. Monochrome paintings first garnered interest as early as 1915 with the Russian Suprematism school of painting. However this was an early start, and the paintings did not recieve critical love until later.

Kasimir Malevich was the man who originated this Russian style of painting with his famed canvases of geometric black shapes on white backgrounds (pictured at top.) These were stark comparisons to what others were doing at the time and they remain very striking pieces to look at.

Malevich's paintings came when Russia was in a revoutionary state and it seems that the monochrome painting seems to rear it's head when the culture is on the move, when the political clinmate and aesthetics or morals of  a place are fastly changing. It is the question mark, the blank canvas asks, what next?

Whether it's a Malevich reproduction or something inspired from the many artists that came later, a monochrome painting just might be the ultimate statement piece for your home. Striking, engaging and sure to spark some art controversy, for something so simple monochromatic art is definitely a conversation piece, let Oil Painting Express bring the conversation to your home!