Piet Mondrian

Dutch painter of abstract art

The Dutch painter Pieter Cornelis Mondrian (originally Mondriaan) (1872 – 1944) grew up in a strict Calvinistic setting. In 1880 the family moved from Amersfoort to Winterswijk, where his father was appointed as headmaster of a Protestant school. After Pieter had obtained his intermediate drawing diploma, which entitled him to teach at secondary schools, Mondrian enrolled at the Academy in Amsterdam.

Early works

His early works were landscapes painted in grays, mauves and greens. After 1897 he step by step developed his personal style. He lived and painted in the provinces Brabant and Overijsel.

Theosophical Society

In 1909 Mondrian became a member of the Theosophical Society in Amsterdam. Later he explained in a letter to Schelfhout: "It seems to me that consciousness is paramount for every human being. To my mind Catholicism can lead to something vague, but Theosophy, a mental science, never can."
In 1912 he moved to Paris where he became acquainted with French cubism. At the time of the First World War he was in Holland and could not return to Paris.

Work developed to abstraction

Mondrian's work developed to abstraction. Finally he arrived at a style in which he limited himself to small vertical and horizontal strokes.
Piet Mondrian met the painters Theo van Doesburg and Bart van der Leck. For "De Stijl" magazine he wrote some theoretical articles about the new art he called neoplasticism. From this moment on Mondrian only used the primary colors red, blue and yellow and the non-colors black and white. All other colors were excluded.
The compositions were developed with intuition, but in a harmonic and considered way.

Paris and New York

After the First World War Mondrian left Holland for Paris. In 1938 he moved to London. He took a lot of unfinished work with him from France. Some of these works of art were not completed when he moved to the United States several years later.

Last years

The American artist Harry Holtzman persuaded Mondrian to move to New York. One-man shows of his work were held in 1942 and 1943 at Valentine Dudensing Gallery, and he was represented at several group exhibitions. His contacts with many artists resulted in a wide dissemination of his ideas.
In February 1944 Mondrian died. He was buried at Cypress Hill Cemetery in New York.