He had just founded Suprematism, an artistic movement based on geometry and pure color. His Quadrangle, or Black Square on White Background (1915), is emblematic of the movement. It was first shown to the public at the Last Futurist Exhibition 0.10. The exhibition's title was highly symbolic: 10 was the number of artists originally expected to take part, while 0 signified that everything would have to be reduced to zero in order to rebuild the world of art.
Mathematics—and geometry in particular—played a major role in Malevitch's painting. In addition to Red Square on White Background and Black Square–Red Square in 1915, he created White Square on White Background in 1918 and Black Circle in 1923. The geometric nature of these works also inspired an entire generation of painters who likewise embraced the square format, including Piet Mondrian, Aurélie Nemours and François Morellet.
