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Composition with Red, Blue and YellowComposition with Red, Blue and Yellow Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow, 1930 © 2013 Mondrian/Holtzman Trust c/o HCR International USA/Photo © 2013 Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow

Piet Mondrian. 1930 C.E. Oil on canvas.

Curator Note

"De Stijl ("The Style") at its purest. Mondrian sought a universal aesthetic language to bring balance and harmony to a chaotic world. He reduced art to its simplest elements: straight lines, primary colors (red, blue, yellow), and neutrals (black, white). It is a utopian vision of order using "Neo-Plasticism.""

Form

  • Grid of black vertical and horizontal lines.
  • Primary colors: Red, Blue, Yellow.
  • Neutrals: White, Black (and gray).
  • Asymmetrical balance (Dynamic Equilibrium).
  • No diagonals or curves.

Function

  • To express universal harmony and order.
  • To show the underlying structure of reality.
  • To create a utopia through design.
  • To eliminate the "subjective" ego of the artist.
  • To merge life and art (architecture/design).

Content

  • Red: large square, dominant active force.
  • Blue/Yellow: smaller counterweights.
  • White: negative space or pure light.
  • Lines: the immutable laws of the universe.
  • No hidden meaning; "what you see is what you see".

Context

  • Mondrian started as a landscape painter (trees) and slowly abstracted.
  • De Stijl movement in the Netherlands.
  • Influence of Theosophy (spiritual geometry).
  • Reaction against the chaos of WWI.
  • Influenced modern design, fashion (YSL), and architecture.