Mondrian Evolution

Celebrating Mondrian's journey from Dutch landscape painter to pioneer of lively, hard-edged abstraction

Published on the occasion of the Dutch artist’s 150th birthday, Mondrian Evolution celebrates the multifaceted work and artistic development of Piet Mondrian. The artist cemented his place in the art historical canon with his geometric compositions characterized by black lines cast against white surfaces partially filled by the primary colors blue, red and yellow. Indelible as they are, these compositions comprise only a portion of Mondrian’s expansive oeuvre. The artist moved through various formal evolutions, corresponding to his various geographical residences, before he arrived at his signature minimalist abstract style. After his classical training in figurative painting, Mondrian departed for Paris, where he immersed himself in the avant-garde currents energizing the city; Cubism, in particular, stimulated his imagination. Taking the movement as a point of departure, Mondrian developed Neo-Plasticism, a nonrepresentational “pure plastic art,” which he believed to be the pathway to universal beauty.
This monograph diligently traces the artist’s progression from landscape painter to abstractionist trailblazer―and all the stops in between. Each chapter homes in on a specific motif within Mondrian’s oeuvre, including windmills, dunes, the sea, farms reflected in the water and plants in various forms of abstraction.