Abstract
This article explores the philosophy of history of Russian avant-garde poet Velimir Khlebnikov and painter Pavel Filonov in the light of the concept of ''formula'', a keyword that stands out in the work of both artists. The author argues that what characterizes the attitude of both artists towards history is not a warm embrace of the future, as their association with Russian futurism might suggest, but rather a ''fear'' of chronological time that inevitably leads us to death. In such a perspective, the ''formula'' appears as a way of taming the future by making it immediately present.