Suprematism usually has been reduced to the supremacy of colour. Malevich analysed the symbolism of black colour in various cultures (mysterious powers, darkness, fear, destruction, sadness, mourning, death) and then he made a synthesis: a black surface symbolised the absolute, unlimited space, eternity, and mystery. Referring the black colour to the form of square he wrote:

White colour, like black colour, was the symbol of the absolute, but it was related to light, illumination, and perfectness. Red colour symbolised the path from darkness to light. Malevich's squares from 1913-1918 (the exhibit with the white square) were ideal philosophical constructs. Later they acquired meanings: economic (black), revolutionary (red) and political (white) which contributed in fundamental criticism of the artist and his exclusion.

These quotations were taken from the book “Kazimierz Malewicz, Świat bezprzedmiotowy, Biblioteka Bauhausu” (Die gegenstandslose Welt, 1927) translated from German into Polish by Stanisław Fijałkowski and published by “słowo, obraz / terytoria”, Gdańsk, 2006

“I understand suprematism as the supremacy of a pure sensation (feeling, experiencing, being affected) in fine arts.” “From a suprematist point of view, phenomena of the material world are irrelevant; only sensations themselves are important—it does not matter what triggered them.”

“Being an object is by itself of no importance to suprematism; the projections of consciousness have no value at all.”

“Impressions are decisive... in this way art achieves representation without an object—suprematism.”