Russian  culture  in  the  first  half  of  the 20th century  is  divided  into  two  different periods:  the  1910s-1920s  and  the 1930s-1950s. The  artistic  situation  in  the 1910s-1920s  was  lively  and  changeable,  as  it came  under  the  considerable  influence of global historical developments. This period's culture is full of opposing tensions: the flight of  artistic fantasy clashes with the desire to produce detailed documentary  representations of reality, just as the logical foundation of the abstract  language of art opposed the revival of classic traditions. 
      The  avant-garde  appeared  during  the first quarter of  the century. This movement formed as a reaction to academic art. 
The masters of  this trend  believed  that  the goal of art was to construct life, not to imitate visible forms of  nature. They thought  that for artistic creation the time of  stories about  life had  passed. 
     Scientific and technological breakthroughs in  the  early  20th century  radically  changed the  way  people  thought. Accustomed world-views  were  swiftly  changing.  Avant-garde artists  expressed  values of  a different order, rather  than  human  relationships.  Thus, V.V. Kandinsky  believed  that  an  epoch  of spirituality  was  at  hand and that people had to  prepare  for  it. The  goal of  art, as he saw it, was to free the imagination, to lead  it away everyday earthly life. The painter was to show the  emotional  and  psychological  nature  of man through movement of colour, not through copies of object forms ("Composition No. 7"). Kandinsky provided the basis for the principles of Abstract Expressionism.
      K.S. Malevich thought that even the visual image  of  the  world  would  soon change. He believed that the task of art was to design the environment,  not  reproduce  its  forms.  This position moved him to rejecting the depiction of  object  forms.  Malevich  created  his  own aesthetically  philosophical  system of  Suprematism. He was the forefather of Geometrical 
abstraction. 
      A similar process could be seen in literature, the theatre and  later in music. The role of  the "raw material" was reviewed in every art form: it  was  the  object  for  fine  art,  the  word  for literature,  the  sound  for  music and the actor for  the  theatre.
     It was the Russian art in the second decade of the 20th century that advanced the principle of abstract  creation. This trend became a priority for  contemporary  painting. "Black Suprematist Square" (1915)  by K.S. Malevich has  become a  symbol  of  20th century  art  and  is  no  less famous  than  Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa".
    The experiments of these masters prompted the  ideas  of  Constructivism,  another  powerful movement  which  emerged on the Russian  art scene. It  determined architectural  styles in the first  half  of  the  century.  A.M. Rodchenko, L.S. Popova,  El (L.M.) Lissitzky   and  other young artists came to the conclusion in the early 1920s that art should form the aesthetic of  the industrial and everyday environment of man. Constructivists  were the inspiration for early Soviet design.
    The Bolshevik Revolution  in 1917  affected differently  both the fate of  Russian  culture and  its  individuals. Many  of  them saw the revolution as the forebearer of a new  world to  come, a  new  era.  Artistic  associations with  different  aesthetic  aims  emerged  in 1920s. Yet their manifestos and declarations had  one  thing  in  common: we are living in a special time, they proclaimed, and the task of art is to find means of expression capable of representing its essence. 
       Some students  of  Constructivist  artists questioned  their  masters' credo. They believed that art must  not  be concentrated 
in  the sphere  of  production.  Easel painting had  not  lost  its importance, but  it  needed to be rejuvenated. They created the Society for  Easel  Painters.  Members   strove  to represent  the  construction  rhythm  of  the new life in their paintings, relying on the aesthetics of Constructivism and Expressionism (A.A. Deineka,  "Building  New  Workshops", 1926). 
       Unlike the  easel  painting  masters, the artists  of  the  Association  of  Artists  of Revolutionary  Russia  believed  that  the 
essence  of  the  heroic  epoch  was  to  be expressed  in  the forms of "heroic realism", and with documentary detail. They criticised avant-garde  experiments  long  before  the decrees  on  the  fight  against  Formalism. The  dream  to  transform  the  world  in  the avant-garde  projects  was  destroyed  by contact  with  reality,  whereas  association representatives who produced the prototype of  Socialist Realism  art  came  increasingly to  the  fore.
        Relying  on  the  traditions  of  the Peredvizhniki,  they  painted  those  events and  phenomena  which  marked  the  birth 
of  the  new  society  and  the  new  world (E.M. Cheptsov, "Meeting  of  the  Village Communist  Cell", 1924). The  country's 
leadership chose their programme as the best  one  corresponding to the  socialist world  outlook. 
       In  1932  the  Central Committee of the All-Russia Communist Party (B) issued a decree abolishing  all  artists' groups and societies. A single Artists' Union  was  created, and the  lively  atmosphere  of  cultural  debate disappeared. The theory of Socialist Realism formed  in  the mid-1930s. All  artists  were to  follow  this  method.  Their  art  was  to represent  the  events and the heroes that would set the tone for the socialist society's bright  future.  Depictions  of  the  masses applauding their leaders were valued above all  else  in  this  process  (А.М. Gerasimov,  "I. Stalin  and  K. Voroshilov  in  the  Kremlin", 
1938).  This  situation  dominated  Russian culture  until  the  end  of  1950s. 
       However, even under Stalin there were artists who remained faithful to the principles of  free  creation. Their  works  represented their  dramatic  time  without  false  pathos, while  they  retained  the  artists'  sincere intonation   (A.D. Drevin,  "Gazelles",  1930-1931;  P.P.  Konchalovsky,  "Portrait  of V.E. Meyerhold", 1937).