Color in abstract painting in Russia in the early 20th century

This article examines the concept of color in the context of abstract painting in Russia in the early 20th century. The authors' goal is to identify the complete independence of color from its service function and to define it as a constitutive factor in the structure of fine art. The study provides a comparative analysis of the theory and practice of V.V. Kandinsky and K.S. Malevich. The article provides general prerequisites for the emergence and formation of a radical revision of the idea and function of painting, which led to the emergence of nonobjective art, where color acquired autonomous artistic means against the background of the influence of spiritual and philosophical concepts on the art of the early 20th century. Theoretical and practical rethinking of color was manifested in Kandinsky and Malevich in absolutely opposite aspects. A comparative analysis of the work of these artists revealed fundamentally different views on the role and function of color, its conceptual essence in connection with form and space, understood in the context of the ontological status of color as current. The article traces the influence of the discoveries of Kandinsky and Malevich on the formation of many new trends in art and the manifestation of their concepts in the searches of modern artists. The authors come to the conclusion that color is an independent and most important means of expressiveness and potential in the conceptual and visual basis of artistic practices of the 20th and 21st centuries. The article formulates the basic laws and principles of working with color, draws parallels and identifies innovations in the use of color in order to achieve the greatest expressiveness of metamodernist painting.