Piet Mondrian Research Paper

Piet Mondrian was one of the founders of the Dutch modern movement De Stijl. This movement is recognized for the purity of his abstractions and methodical practice. Beginning in 1904 he had become a landscape painter. He was influence by Jan Toorop and caused him to paint in a Symbolist manner. Mondrian worked in series, which allowed him to focus on one object at a time. “Mondrian was drawn toward the syncretic and universalizing ideas of Theosophy. Theosophy combined aspects of Christian and Jewish mysticism with Eastern practices” (Arnason 263). Artists that were drawn to Theosophy taught that abstraction could represent a sense of space that representational art couldn’t. Mondrian’s theory of plasticism is “plastic” and “reality” put together. In other words, “the capacity of color and forms to assert their presence, to affect the viewer” (Mansfield 264). The “new reality” spoke for itself instead of the painting of something such has a landscape to be the subject. As he was discovering this new style, he continued to paint the landscapes and the ocean but this time it was converted into lines and signs. The color variation of squares and rectangles make it appear that the lighter ones are in front of the darker ones sense of overlapping on the canvas, which …show more content…
Eliminating sense of depth was important to Mondrian because it allowed the paintings to be and expression his believes of matter and spirit. Mondrian’s blues, yellows, pinks, and reds were inspired by Fauvism. “In forest scenes he emphasized the linear undulation of saplings; in shore and seascapes, the intense, flowing colors of sand dunes and water” (Arnason 263). Sometimes he would paint objects in the style of Van Gogh and the oddest color arrangement inspired by the Neo-Impressionists. Mondrian also used oval canvas inspired by the