Piet Mondrian
Born – Amersfoort, Never lands 1872
Died – New York City, USA 1944
Mondrian’s early landscape paintings owed much to the bright, colourful work of Matisse and Van Gough. In 1909 Mondrian moved to Paris where he experienced the work of the Cubists and was influenced by the simplified geometric shapes and tight structures he discovered in their paintings. Composition with red, yellow and blue comprises coloured rectangles intersected and divided by a flat grid of black lines. It is part of a series of geometric paintings in which Mondrian attempted to shut out all reference to the outside world, in a desire to achieve what he called, “universal harmony”. It is in his use f contrasting primary colours through balanced vertical and horizontal forms, that he fulfils this aim. Mondrian’s importance lies in his development of “pure” abstraction. He was a founding remember of De Slijl journal of 1917, which helped spread his artistic theories. However, it would be wrong to conclude that his paintings can be seen merely as a series of formal experiments. By reducing painting to its basic elements, Piet Mondrian achieved a simple purity and spirituality that radiated throughout the twentieth century.
Masterpieces:
- Still life with Ginger Jar II
- Broadway Boogie Woogie.
text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.