A Russian approach to abstract art dating back to 1911. Rayonism was developed by Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov after having attended a series of lectures by the futurist Tommaso Marinetti in Moscow.
The distinction between Rayonism and Futurism in Italy and Russia is not hard to spot from an intellectual vantage point, but less so in the artistic expression.
The futurists firmly subscribed to the future, whereas Rayonism thought that art could flow across time and space like rays of sun. Both art movements had latched on to something interesting conceptually. However, the only thing they may have shared is the weed they smoked and the age they both lived in.
Like futurists, Rayonists used the dynamics of diagonals a lot, though they focused on the intersection of reflecting rays in line and colour.
Rayonism was shortlived and fizzled out around 1913 making way for other abstraction in Russia.
