In 1969 Kubrick had an interview and he was asked by the image of the monolith and then he answered:

“From the very outset of work on the film we all discussed means of photographically depicting an extraterrestrial creature in a manner that would be as mind-boggling as the being itself”.

In the same sentiment as fantasy writer H.P. Lovecraft, Kubrick wished to obscure the sight of the alien being with the knowledge that anything he conjured could not match the power of the imagination, noting: “It soon became apparent that you cannot imagine the unimaginable”.
As a result, Kubrick created the black monolith, the antithesis to wild creativity that is paradoxically an innovative masterstroke.

As Stanley Kubrick explained:“All you can do is try to represent it in an artistic manner that will convey something of its quality,” making reference to the monolith’s intimidating size and terrifying unknown impetus. Continuing, the filmmaker added: “That’s why we settled on the black monolith — which is, of course, in itself something of a Jungian archetype, and also a pretty fair example of ‘minimal art’”.

 Revealing that the monolith is inspired by the theory of Jungian archetypes devised by Carl Jung, this concept is defined by images and themes that derive from the collective unconscious. Jung believed that certain symbols from different cultures are often very similar as they have been developed from archetypes shared by a collective human unconscious.