Piet Mondrian is regarded as a pioneer of abstract art, but his journey towards those famous abstract paintings was a long one, taking him through various artistic styles.
Mondrian learnt to draw at a young age from his father, who was an art teacher. Although it seemed obvious that he too would become an art teacher, he dreamed of a different future. His aim was to gain admission to the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, which he achieved in 1892. In his early years, he painted landscapes, still lifes and portraits, inspired by styles such as Impressionism, Fauvism and Expressionism.
In 1912, Mondrian moved to Paris, where he came into contact with the Cubism of Picasso and Braque. Cubism revolves around fragmenting visible reality, as if looking through a broken window. Mondrian adopted elements of this style and combined them with his own ideas.
Due to his father’s illness and the outbreak of the First World War, Mondrian returned to the Netherlands. During this period, until his return to Paris in 1919, he produced some of his earliest abstract works, including the famous paintings of De Molen in Domburg. From 1917 onwards, he produced exclusively abstract art. He described himself as an abstract realist, as he was still inspired by reality. He began working solely with primary colours (red, blue and yellow) and non-colours (grey, white and black). His compositions consisted solely of horizontal and vertical lines, through which he sought the perfect balance between form and colour. Mondrian believed that, through these simple elements, he could approach the fundamental truth of things.
Mondrian himself described his work as follows:
“I construct lines and colour combinations on a flat surface with the aim of depicting universal beauty as consciously as possible. I wish to come as close as possible to the truth, and so I abstract everything until I reach the very essence of things. I believe that, through horizontal and vertical lines, it is possible to create a work of art as powerful as reality itself.”
In 1938, with the threat of the Second World War looming, Mondrian first moved to London and then, in 1940, to New York. There, he quickly found his place in the avant-garde art scene. With the help of Harry Holtzman, who helped him secure a studio and introduced him to the world of boogie-woogie and blues music, Mondrian embarked on his final major artistic phase.
At Remastered, you can experience the abstract art of Piet Mondrian’s paintings, reimagined by the new Dutch masters.
The paintings we use can be viewed at the following locations, amongst others:
Piet Mondrian, Dune II, 1909, oil on canvas, 37.5 x 46.5 cm, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands. kunstmuseum.nl
Piet Mondrian, Composition with a Large Red Area, Yellow, Black, Grey and Blue, 1921, oil on canvas, 59.5 x 59.5 cm, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands. kunstmuseum.nl
Piet Mondrian, Victory Boogie Woogie, 1942–1944, oil, tape, paper, charcoal and pencil on canvas, 127.5 x 127.5 cm, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands. kunstmuseum.nl
Other works by Piet Mondrian can be viewed at:
Stedelijk Museum – Amsterdam, Netherlands stedelijk.nl
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York, United States moma.org
The Guggenheim Museum – New York, United States guggenheim.org
Tate Modern – London, United Kingdom tate.org.uk
Centre Pompidou – Paris, France centrepompidou.fr
Kunsthaus Zürich – Zurich, Switzerland kunsthaus.ch
National Gallery of Art – Washington, D.C., United States nga.gov
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris – Paris, France mam.paris.fr
Ludwig Museum – Cologne, Germany museum-ludwig.de
Kunstmuseum Basel – Basel, Switzerland kunstmuseumbasel.ch
Philadelphia Museum of Art – Philadelphia, United States philamuseum.org
Boijmans van Beuningen Museum – Rotterdam, Netherlands boijmans.nl
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam – Amsterdam, Netherlands rijksmuseum.nl
Mondriaanhuis – Amersfoort, Netherlands mondriaanhuis.nl
Amsterdam City Archives – Amsterdam, Netherlands amsterdam.nl
Frans Hals Museum – Haarlem, Netherlands franshalsmuseum.nl
Singer Museum – Laren, Netherlands singerlaren.nl
Kröller-Müller Museum – Otterlo, Netherlands krollermuller.nl
Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York, United States metmuseum.org
Peggy Guggenheim Collection – Venice, Italy guggenheim-venice.it
Further information about Piet Mondrian can be found at: wikipedia.org