Province 1912

Kazimir Malevich made this painting, Province, with oil on canvas and its currently housed at the Stedelijk Museum. Look at how he's put down these earthy colours, almost in blocks – it's like he's figuring out the world as he goes. For me, that's what art is all about: it's a process, not just a product. Take a close look at the surface – the paint is laid on with a kind of rough, almost impatient energy. You can see the marks of the brush, the way he's loaded it up with pigment and then dragged it across the canvas. There’s a kind of controlled chaos here, especially in the figures in the foreground, who are not quite fully formed – they feel like they’re on the verge of dissolving into the background, which is just a sea of warm yellows and oranges. This way of seeing, of not quite settling on one fixed image, reminds me a bit of Picasso, who was also trying to break down the way we see the world. It's like Malevich is saying, "Hey, reality is messy, complicated, and full of contradictions." And that's okay!