piet mondrian this month in art literacy - stafford...

Piet Mondrian (Pete MAWN-dre-ahn)

1872-1944Dutch Abstract Painter

iet Mondrian’s work is among the most recog-nizable abstract art of the 20th century. Born in

Holland in 1872, he spent his early years painting nat-uralistic landscapes. In 1911, after going to Paris andcoming into contact with Picasso and the Cubists, hebegan to paint recurring themes (trees, windmills,dunes and towers) in which the image was progres-sively more simplified. The continual abstractions ofform developed into a new style of painting named“Neo-Plasticism.” In 1917, Mondrian and the Dutchpainter Theo van Doesburg founded the magazine“DeStijl” (The Style) in which Mondrian expounded theprinciples of this new art style.

Nature was Mondrian’s starting point, but he abstract-ed simple motif s until they were mere lines and color.His compositions conformed to the Neo-Plastic theorythat the essential elements are the vertical and hori-zontal l ine coupled with primary colors, along withwhite, gray and black (non-colors). He balanced colorswith non-colors, and even the length and width of l inesfactored into the visual weight of his compositions.

Mondrian took his abstraction to the ultimate conclu-sion, making completely non-objective designs.Mondrian’s influence went beyond the art world,influencing design in architecture, decorative art,industrial art, graphic art and advertising.

Vocabulary

N e o - P l a s t i c i s m—An art movement of the 1910sbased on the belief that art should not be the reproduc-tion of real objects but the expression of the absolutesof l ife, namely vertical and horizontal l ines and pri-mary colors. The two main painters of this movementwere Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg .

Abstract—The departure from natural appearances inorder to create new arrangements of lines, colors, andshapes. Abstraction can be either geometric, usingsolids, lines and shapes, or organic, which is morefree-form and symbolic.

Motif —The main element, idea or feature in a workof art.

Composition—The planned arrangement of elementsin an artwork.

Art Elements

Line—A mark made by a pointed tool—brush, pencil,stick, pen, etc.—and is of ten defined as a moving dot.Lines have length and width, and can be straight orcurved. Variety in the thickness of l ines creates surfaceinterest. Contour lines outline the edges of shapes orforms and actually define them. Mondrian used lines todefine his forms in his naturalistic paintings and to cre-ate the grids in his Neo-plastic compositions. In thesepaintings, Mondrian restricted himself to black linesforming rectangles. Later the lines were created out ofsegments of color.

Color—Color has three properties: 1) hue, which isthe name of the color; 2) value, referring to the light-ness/darkness of a color; and 3) intensity, referring tothe purity of the color. Bright colors attract our atten-tion and are heavier visually. White, black and grayare not considered colors. Warm colors advance,while cool colors recede. Mondrian used mainly pri-mary colors (red, yellow, blue) in variations. His earlyworks are bright and intense, while his Cubist worksare monochromatic or less bright. His grid paintingsuse primary colors with the three non-colors (white,black and gray).

Art Principles

Balance—Refers to the distribution of visual weightin a work of art. Balance is either symmetrical (whenelements on both sides of a central vertical line appearto be about equal in shape, weight, value and color) orasymmetrical (when two sides are different, but are invisual balance). Mondrian used both symmetrical andasymmetrical balance in his work. He arranged verti-cal and horizontal lines into what he called “dynamicequilibrium.” His grid paintings balanced smallintense color shapes with larger shapes of non-color.

Unity—Unity is planned by the artist and providesthe cohesive quality to art. An underlying theme canunify different elements. Mondrian uses several tech-niques to unify his compositions, including repetition(of color, shape and line) and continuation, where aline or an edge from one shape continues to another.Sometimes the elements “continue” off the edge ofthe painting, as our mind completes the design. InMondrian’s painting, all parts work together to createthe unified whole and even the non-colors are impor-tant to his compositions. He sought to create “unityfrom the equivalence of opposites.”

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Piet Mondrian This Month in Art Literacy

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iet Mondrian was born Pieter CornelisMondriaan, Jr. in 1872, in Amersfoort, The

Netherlands. It was a charming town with characteris-tic Dutch canals and brick houses. Piet was one of fivechildren—four boys and one girl. The household wasstrict and religious, in part due to his father being ateacher and a Calvinist. Piet’s father hoped that hisson would also pursue teaching. Piet got his teachingdegree and taught drawing for a short time. However,Piet had known since age 14 that he wanted to be apainter and, despite his father’s objections, heenrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam in1892. He attended the academy for several years butstruggled to support himself, executing drawings fortextbooks and copies of famous paintings in order tomake money.

Until 1908, when be began to take annual trips toD o m b u rg in Zeeland, Mondrian’s work was naturalis-tic, incorporating influences from Dutch Neo-Impressionism and Symbolism, as well as academicstil l li fes and landscapes. In 1909, a major exhibition ofhis work was held in Amsterdam and that same year hejoined the Theosophic Society. This was a philosophi-cal movement based on eastern thought that stressedunity of man with the universe. He was intenselyinvolved in that study for close to twenty years.

In 1911, Mondrian saw Cubist works by GeorgeBraques and Pablo Picasso at an exhibition inAmsterdam and decided to move to Paris. He felt thathe needed to experience mankind to the fullest, andonly in a large bustling city like Paris would that bepossible. It was during this time that he dropped one“a” in his last name. He lived in Paris from 1912 to1914 and, although he had intended to stay there, hewent to visit his father in Holland in 1914. Whilethere, war broke out and he was forced to remain inHolland for the duration of World War I. During thewar years his belief in theosophy (a belief system thatattempted to offer insight into the divine nature of allthings) was absorbed into his radical new style, whichhe called Neo-Plasticism.

During the war years in Holland, he further reducedhis colors and geometric shapes and formulated hisnon-objective style. In 1917, Mondrian became one ofthe founders of De Stijl (The Style). This group,which included Theo van Doesburg, Bart van derLeck, and Georges Vantongerloo, extended its princi-ples of abstraction and simplification beyond painting

and sculpture to architecture and graphic design.

In 1919, Mondrian returned to Paris and exhibited withthe De Stij l group and published essays for the maga-zine of the same name. Mondrian wanted art to bemathematical—a kind of blueprint for life. He fi lled hiscanvases with bold, black horizontal and vertical l ines.The resulting boxes were painted with white, red, yel-l o w, and blue. At first glance his grid paintings mayhave looked very similar, but actually each one wasprecisely calibrated and balanced. He was so fanaticalabout his beliefs that when Theo van Doesburg intro-duced the diagonal l ine into his paintings, Mondrianquit the De Stij l group in disgust in 1925.

The later years in Paris were filled with continuedrecognition and abstraction in his grid paintings. Hetransformed his studio into one of his paintings; wallswere covered with rectangles of primary colors orwhite, black, and gray. All the furniture was paintedwhite or black. He even painted his record player abright red. One decorative figure stood out—an artifi-cial tulip kept in a vase. It was painted white becausehe had banned the color green.

In 1938, Mondrian moved to London to escape theapproaching threat from Nazi Germany, and in 1940,he moved to New York after a bomb almost destroyedhis London studio. In New York, he met Americanabstract artists and continued to publish texts on Neo-Plasticism. He enjoyed jazz and the bustling lifestyleof his new home. Although he fell in love a few times,he never married. In February of 1944, he contractedpneumonia and died just short of his 72nd birthday.

Bibliography

Milner, John, Mondrian, New York: Abbeville Press, 1992.

Bax, Marty, Complete Mondrian, Hampshi re: LundHumphries, 2001.

Fauchereau, Serge, Mondrian and the Neo-Plasticist Utopia,New York:Rizzoli International Publications, 1994.

Jaffe, Hans J.C., Mondrian, New York: Harry N.Abrams,Publishers Inc., 1985.

Schapiro, Meyer, Mondrian: On the Humanity of AbstractPainting, New York: George Braziller,Inc., 1978.

Blotkamp,Carel , Mondrian: The Art of Destruction,London: Reaktion Books Ltd., 2001.

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Piet Mondrian Biography

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Scanning Slide

Composition with Red, Yellow , and Blue1937-1942, oil on canvas, 15-1/2” x 13-3/4”, Tate Museum, London

Art ElementsLine• What types of lines does the artist use in this composition?(Straight, vertical and horizontal.)• What shapes do the lines create?(Squares and rectangles.)

Color• Which colors are used in this painting?(Primary colors: red, yellow, blue.)• Which non-colors did the artist use? (White and black.)

Art PrinciplesBalance• Is the painting balanced symmetrically orasymmetrically? (Asymmetrically.)• Which areas of the composition seem to balance each other?(Yellow and red shapes, blue stripe and red

stripe, black vertical lines on left side and black vertical lines on the right side.)

Unity• Which element most unifies the composition? (The black lines, which are distributed in a grid over

the whole painting.)• Could you remove anything from this painting without loosing the unity?(No.)

Technical Properties• What materials do you think the artist used to create this composition?(Oil paints, canvas, brushes.)• What type of frame do you think he displayed the painting in?(None, he mostly hung his paintings

unframed.)

Expressive Properties• What title would you give this painting?• Describe how you feel when you look at this composition.

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Piet Mondrian Scanning Questions

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Piet Mondrian Slide Images

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1. Self Portrait1918, oil on canvas, 34-5/8” x 28-3/4”, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

This is the last self-portrait Mondrian painted and the only one that shows him clearly asa painter, posed with a canvas in the background. This painting shows one of his firstworks in the Neo-plastic style in the background. Note its distinct large areas of non-color(grey and white). For the portrait he used the mostly neutral color scheme of grays andbrowns, which he favored during this early period. Simplification, one of his trademarks,is already evident in the sparse details and linear structure of the composition.

2. Windmill in Sunlight1908, oil on canvas, 44-7/8” x 34-1/4”, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

The motif of a Dutch windmill was a recurring theme for Mondrian. During this period,he was influenced by Pointillism, as well as by fellow Dutchman Vincent van Gogh, andthis is reflected in the short horizontal and vertical brushstrokes. Mondrian also simplifiedhis compositions to one single large motif (the windmill) as the dominant image. Herestricted the color scheme to the primary colors of yellow, red, and blue. This became histrademark color scheme, and the vertical and horizontal grid-like application of brush-strokes in the center of the mill foreshadows the grid paintings of the 1920s for which heis best known. The large stable image of the mill, placed just slightly to the left of the cen-tral axis, is asymmetrically balancedby the large blade shapes extending out to the right.The uniform surface treatment of bright, bold brushstrokes unifies the composition. Byclustering all the shapes and strokes in the center, and simplifying the color schemeMondrian adds to the focus and unity of this painting.

Piet Mondrian Slide List

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What colors areused in this painting? What do we call thisgroup of colors?

Can you find anarea of non-color in this painting?

3. (Evening) The Red T ree1909, oil on canvas, 27-5/8” x 38-1/8”, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

This painting reflects Mondrian’s use of nature as a starting point in his subject matter. Inthis painting, the natural shape of the tree is rendered in unnatural color. Mondrianreduced the color scheme to two primary colors, red and blue. The red advances and theblue recedes, creating contrasting moods of calm in the background and activity in the redtree. The balanceof opposites can be seen in the composition. By lowering the horizon,he created a massive background of flat color against which the lines of the tree branch-es spread across the canvas. The pure colors and simplified tree shape create an abstractexercise in color and line versus a depiction of a natural scene. The dominant color ofblue, uniform distribution of red, and the central theme of the tree all unify the composi-tion. Mondrian continued to use trees as the motif of his later abstractions, rendering themin ever more simplified fashion.

4. Church T ower at Domburg1910-11, oil on canvas, 44-7/8” x 29-1/2”, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

The church tower is another favorite motif for Mondrian. The massive shape is placedalong the entire vertical axis of the painting. He describes the tower with a few lines andfewer details. Only the blue windows break the simplified shape of the huge red brickfaçade. The low horizon suggests upward movement, which is reinforced by the strongvertical lines of the tower. The background is abstracted to the simplest of shapes. Foliagefrom the trees at the top is reduced to dark blue triangles that overlap the structure. Thelimited color scheme and solid areas of color used to define the composition create a uni-fied and simplified motif that is almost artistically removed from its natural environment.


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How did the artistcreate unity in thispainting?

Which part of the painting isabstracted?

5. Still Life with Ginger Pot II1912, oil on canvas, 36” x 47-1/4”, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (on loan to the Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY)

Mondrian painted two versions of this still life; this is the later and more abstract version.Although still lifes were not a large part of Mondrian’s work, they were favorite subjectmatter of Cubist works which Mondrian saw in Paris in 1911. This work marks a turningpoint for Mondrian. He still used a central motif (the ginger pot) around which the rest ofthe painting is symmetrically balanced, but the pot is the last vestige of naturalism in thecomposition.

Lines and geometric shapes suggest all the forms in this painting. The subdued colorsmake the different objects indistinguishable and reduce them to a series of interconnect-ing contour lines. The horizontal lines in the lower half of the painting are coupled withvertical brushstrokes, while in the upper half, vertical lines are coupled with horizontalbrushstrokes. The abstracted lines create a grid framework for the composition. There arealso curved lines, and in the background the lines appear to form an oval. Like the Cubists,Mondrian flattened the planes and reduced objects to their simplest form. Lines dominateand unify the surface of the painting. Balance is symmetrical and the treatment of hori-zontal versus vertical lines is also balanced throughout the composition.

Fun Fact: After he moved to Paris in 1912, he dropped the second “a” from his last name.

6. Flowering Apple T reec. 1912, oil on canvas, 30-3/4” x 41-3/4”, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

In this typically Cubist composition, Mondrian revisits the tree theme, but converts therealistic qualities of the tree into a rhythmic play of lines that create the abstracted imageof the tree. Color is simplified to a neutral scheme that emphasizes the shapes in this “cen-tripetal” composition(meaning that the four corners are left empty to allow the entirework to be gathered together at the center). Mondrian used only a few straight lines andmany elliptically curved lines to create the intersecting planes into a symmetrically bal-ancedwork. The symmetry, the central emphasis and the frontal viewpoint are all char-acteristics of Mondrian’s early style. The clustering of lines, the overall uniform distribu-tion of these lines, and the muted, neutral color scheme creates the sense of unity , whichthe theme further reinforces.


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How many curved lines doyou see in thispainting?

Do you think the balance in this painting is symmetrical orasymmetrical?

7. Oval Composition (T rees)1913, oil on canvas, 36-5/8” x 30-3/4”, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

This oval composition surrounded by an ocher-colored perimeter is the most Cubist ofMondrian’s works. The colors and structure are very close to the works of Picasso, Braqueand the other analytical Cubists. Without “Trees”in the title, we would not know the start-ing point of this abstract painting based on a natural subject. Mondrian deviated from arectangular format here in order to prevent the painting from becoming dispersed into thecorners. By using an oval, he left the four corners empty and created a centripetal com-position (where the entire work is gathered together at the center).

The color scheme is muted and neutral. The lines are predominantly vertical, but the painthas been applied using horizontal and curved brushstrokes. The thickness of the linesseems to increase towards the bottom of the canvas, which reinforces the downward feel-ing of the composition. The abstract design splits down the central axis of the oval, creat-ing a symmetrically balancedwork. Repetition of color, interacting lines and planes, andthe overall uniform surface treatment unify the composition.

Fun Fact: Mondrian never showed much interest in titles. Only works that were sent toexhibitions were given a title, probably out of necessity. This explains the numerousworks with “Tableau” and “Composition” as titles. Ironically, without the titles the sub-ject is often undetectable.


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What would you think was the subject of this painting if the artist had not included the word“trees” in the title?

8. Composition No.10 Pier and Ocean1915, oil on canvas, 20” x 17”, Kröller-Müller State Museum, Otterlo

Painted while in Holland during WWI, this painting is part of a series with a new motif—the sea and the pier. The waves break against the vertical pier in a pattern of black linesset against a white background. There are no colors, no curves, and no diagonal lines. Allthe natural forms are now transformed into short vertical and horizontal line fragmentswhich sometimes intersect to form crosses resembling plus and minus signs. These frag-ments don’t converge upon the centrally placed pier, rather they radiate outwards and arethen held in check by the oval within the rectangle of the canvas. It is interesting that theentire composition of horizontal and vertical lines creates an oval or ellipse without usinga single curved or diagonal line. Mondrian is transitioning from centripetal to centrifugal(moving away from a center or axis) compositions with this work.

The composition is symmetrically balancedaround the central axis. Even though the linesvary in length, with shorter lines at the top and longer at the bottom, the uniform use oflines over a continuous white background lends unity to this painting. The lines are clus-tered in sets for variety with doubles the most numerous, followed by fewer triples, andeven fewer five and six line clusters. At first glance we only see the unified whole; thenwe are able to notice the individual variations in size, clustering, and length of the lines inthe composition.

Fun Fact: Mondrian said of this work, “I originally intended to do it in color, but there wasnot time, and I felt that it said what it was meant to say”. This tells us that he began withthe linear structure of the composition and added colors later. (Here the colors were neveradded as the white background was seen to be as important as the black lines.)


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Can you find clus -ters of two , three,five or six lines?

9. Composition with Colors A1917, oil on canvas, 20” x 17”, Kröller-Müller State Museum, Otterlo

This abstract centrifugal (moving away from a center or axis) composition has the sameunderlying linear structure of black lines used in “Pier and Ocean,” but with colorsadded. The color scheme is reduced to shades of primary colors that are applied in a ran-dom repetition of squares and rectangles. These color blocks, along with the squared offblack lines, radiate out from the center towards the edges of the canvas, forming a vagueovoid shape. It is representative of the Neo-plastic style, which used arrangements of pri-mary colors, white backgrounds, and black lines, and foreshadows the grid paintings forwhich Mondrian is best known. There are no preliminary drawings of this work fromwhich to gain clues to its subject, and there does not appear to be a theme.

The colors and lines float on the neutral white background. The white center of the com-position is empty but appears to balance the colors around it with equal visual weight. Itis the focus from which the color planes disperse across the canvas. The blocks of colorare joined by black line segments. Some are juxtaposed, while other overlap without anyclear system. The conjunctions of color blocks and overlapping blocks are all varied, withno two alike. Our eyes link the blocks of similar colors and visually unify the individualvaried parts into a complete whole. The black lines serve the same unifying function whileproviding a loose structure for the colors.

Fun Fact: Notice the signature of “PM17.” Mondrian began using this style of signaturein 1917 and continued to use it for the rest of his life.

10. Composition: Checkerboard, Dark Colors1919, oil on canvas, 33” x 40”, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

Mondrian painted two checkerboard compositions—one with bright colors and this onewith dark colors. The colors are the same ones used in “Composition with Colors A,” onlynow there is no longer a white background field. The colors combine visually to createnew formations despite the regular underlying grid. There is no rest for the eye as it trav-els across the variations of hue and intensity. Mondrian takes a regular linear grid andadds variety to the composition which would otherwise be monotonous. Balance andunity are achieved by the overall uniform distribution of warm and cool colors.


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How do the blocksof red color unifythe painting?

What balances all the intense red color in this painting?

11. Tableau II (Composition with Red, Yellow , and Blue)1921-25, oil on canvas, 29-1/2” x 25-5/8”, Private Collection, Zurich

The lines in this composition create planes of unequal size. This makes the repetition ofrectangles less monotonous and creates interest. Colors are bright primary red, yellow,and blue coupled with white, black and gray (non-colors). The non-colors occupy up tohalf of the composition and visually link up with the color planes: blue links up withblack; and yellow links with white. There is variety in this simple assemblage of lines andplanes, but there is also repetition of color, which brings the painting a sense of unity andorder. Notice the repetition of colors on both sides of the composition; blue on the left bal-ances the blue on the right, and red on the left balances in the same way with red on theright. Color balancesnon-color, vertical line balances horizontal line, and square balancesrectangle to put opposites in harmony.This is the prototype for the Neo-plastic grid paint-ings Mondrian painted in the 1920s and 1930s.

12. Composition with Red, Yellow , and Blue1921, oil on canvas, 15-1/2” x 13-3/4”, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

“Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue”became a recurring title, taking the place of arecurring theme or motif. The use of primary colors coupled with thick black lines thatcreate the right angles of planes was now standard for Mondrian. The only thing thatchanged was the number of elements, the proportion of the parts, and the pattern theyestablished in these Neo-plastic compositions.

The distribution of color and non-color in this work creates the appearance of a whitebackground with black lines and small strips of color on the periphery. The center is nolonger a void; it relates to the lines and colors on the periphery and creates interest. Thelarge white square (non-color) in the center and the small areas of primary colors balanceeach other visually despite their difference in size. The vertical and horizontal lines thatdefine these color and non-color planes are thicker than in previous paintings and extendbeyond the edge of the canvas. The narrow elongated planes of color almost have the sameeffect of running off the edge of the canvas, letting the viewer mentally complete theshape beyond the edge. This continuation helps to unify the different parts of the paint-ing. In addition, Mondrian unified the composition with the dominant non-color white andthe overall distribution of the black lines.


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What do we call the color group containing red, yellow and blue?

Is this painting balanced? How?

13. Composition with Red, Yellow , and Blue1937-1942, oil on canvas, 15-1/2” x 13-3/4”, Tate Museum, London

Although this painting resembles a plain checkerboard design, Mondrian’s variations addinterest and variety. At first we see the unified system of thick black lines, and then theeye focuses on the individual lines, shapes and colors that make up this Neo-plastic com-position. Subtle changes in the thickness and intervals of the vertical and horizontal linescreate varied sizes and shapes of rectangles. A new addition in this composition is the useof a double line. The two lines running parallel to each other so closely suggest overlap-ping planes, giving a more dynamic feel to this painting than is apparent in those with justsingle lines.

The colored planes are still bordered by black lines as in previous paintings; butMondrian also used colored lines that stand alone; note the blue line on the lower left andthe short band of red on the right. The blue line seems to recede into the white field,appearing to be below the black lines, while the red band advances and appears to beabove the plane. The small, intense spot of warm red has the same visual weight as thelonger band of cooler blue. The red square is surrounded by black lines which emphasizethe intense color, while yellow in the top left lacks borders on two sides and expandsbeyond the canvas, carrying the full weight of the completed shape. Thus, Mondrian hasasymmetrically balancedthis composition with color. The overal distribution of verticallines also balances and helps to unify the painting.

Fun Fact: Mondrian said he determined the width of various white planes with the nakedeye, improvising in a manner similar to the jazz musicians he admired.


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Is this painting balanced? What balances the red square?

14. Broadway Boogie W oogie1942-3, oil on canvas, 50” x 50”, MOMA, New York

This is Mondrian’s last completed painting, and in it he eliminated the black lines that hadbeen his trademark for years. He now created lines out of pure primary colors to reflectthe joy he felt with his new life in America. (He arrived in New York in 1940 to escapeWorld War II and fell in love with the city and its bustling lifestyle).

The composition still uses a grid of vertical and horizontal lines, but now Mondrianbreaks the lines into multicolored segments. These tiny, repeated blocks of color create anoptical vibration that jumps from intersection to intersection like the streets of New York.The composition is carefully arranged, with colors and non-colors (gray and white) bal-ancing each other throughout the canvas. The order and coupling of the colors is randomand rarely repeats on the same line. Each line is individual, making the unifying grid ofcolors more interesting and varied than first meets the eye. Between the lines, or some-times overlapping them, are larger color planes with contrasting colors. The result is a fes-tive display of movement and energy resembling the boogie-woogie music for which thework is named. Mondrian came full circle artistically by returning to expressive qualitiesand evocative titles for his paintings.

Fun Fact: The term “Boogie Woogie” refers to a new kind of jazz popular in New York atthe time, in which short melody lines were interrupted by open rhythmical patterns.

15. Victory Boogie W oogie1943-44, oil on canvas with colored tape and paper, 49-5/8” x 49-5/8”, Private Collection, Meriden, Connecticut

This unfinished painting was on Mondrian’s easel when he died from pneumonia in 1944.It is a diamond-shaped work that was painted with the aid of tape, much of which is stillon the surface. This painting was conceived in anticipation of victory in World War II.

The linear grid is less important here as an underlying design and unifying device. Thelines almost recede into the background while the color planes dance all over the surface,drawing the non-colors into the swarming mass. The white rectangles are so built up withpaint that they appear as positive planes, not as negative background space. There is aflowing movement that is more important than the linear structure.

The relationship of the colors and non-colors is balanced in a “dynamic equilibrium,” asMondrian called it. He has interwoven the blue, yellow, red, and white in an overall uni-form surface treatment that clustered the color blocks in the middle of the canvas whileneglecting the far corners. This unifies the disparate parts into a complete whole. Yet, wecannot help but feel as though the design is bursting and expanding beyond the edges ofthe canvas, reflecting Mondrian’s feelings on the eve of victory.


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How are these lines different from those inMondrian’s othergrid paintings?

How does colorcontribute to the unity of this painting?

Neo-Plastic Composition

GoalTo create an asymmetrically balanced Neo-Plastic composition using primary colors, black lines, squares and rectangles.

Criteria• Use vertical and horizontal black lines.• Have at least one line be the full length or width of the paper.• Have lines intersect to create at least one square and one rectangle.• Use primary colors and white in the shapes.• Balance the composition asymmetrically.

Materials• 12 x 12 white construction paper • 1/2” or smaller flat paintbrushes • red, yellow and blue tempera paint • pencils• paper towels • rulers• paper plates for palettes • scissors• black electrical tape (3/4” width) • newspaper to cover desks• black medium point Sharpie pens (or 1/4” black tape)

Procedure

1. Plan a simple linear grid using vertical and horizontal lines with at least one square and one rectangle shape created by those lines.

2. Using a pencil and a ruler draw the straight lines onto the paper, making sure that at least one line runs the length (or width) of the composition. Students may use double lines or thick and thin lines for variety.

3. Cover the pencil lines with black tape or with black Sharpie pens. (Students may choose to use only tape in single or double widths, or use a combination of tape and Sharpie pen.) DON’T STRETCH THE TAPE AS YOU APPLY IT, AS IT CURLS THE PAPER.

4. Plan the placement of the primary colors within the lines, keeping asymmetrical balance in mind. Add additional lines to achieve this asymmetrical balance of shapes if necessary. Be sure to consider the white areas as well as primary colored areas when creating the asymmetrical balance.

5. Paint in the yellow, red, and blue squares and rectangles. If the paint gets on the tape, use paper towels to wipe the paint off the tape. Leave some areas white.

6. Sign the back of the composition in pencil and draw an arrow to show the top of the composition (orientation).

Mounting suggestion:Mondrian did not always frame his work; therefore we do not recommend a mat for this proj-ect. For variety, the students may rotate their finished work to create a diamond from the square.

Piet Mondrian Hands-on Project

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