Biography
Mort 1966
© The estate of R. B. Kitaj
Piet Mondrian 1872-1944
Dutch pioneer of abstract art, who developed from early landscape pictures to geometric abstract works of a most rigorous kind. Born in Amersfoort, Utrecht. Studied painting at the Amsterdam Academy 1892-4 and again, part-time, 1896-7. Friendship with the painter Simon Mans and painted landscapes in the Hague School tradition. Began to work in a more vividly coloured and sometimes pointillist style in 1908, joined the Theosophic Organisation in 1909 and made some works of a Symbolist character. First one-man exhibition with C.R.H. Spoor and Jan Sluyters at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1909. Lived in Paris 1912-14; was influenced by Cubism, which he carried to the point of abstraction. Returned to Holland in 1914 and step by step evolved a more simplified abstract style which he called Neo-Plasticism, restricted to the three primary colours and to a grid of black vertical and horizontal lines on a white ground; associated with van Doesburg in the de Stijl movement 1917-25. Lived 1919-38 in Paris where he joined the group Abstraction-Création in 1931. Moved to London 1938-40, living near Gabo and Ben Nicholson, then in 1940 to New York where he started to develop a more colourful style, with coloured lines and syncopated rhythms. Died in New York.
Published
in:
Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.532-3
Artworks
Artist as subject
Archive
Archive
Sidney Janis Gallery Leaflet for an exhibition entitled, ‘Selection of French Art’ at the Sidney Janis Gallery
1955
Archive
Archive
Ben Nicholson OM Copy of extracts from letters sent to Norman Reid, Ronald Alley and ‘BR’
21 October 1956–4 December 1968
Film and audio
Watch
TateShots: Piet Mondrian
Co-curator Michael White explores how Mondrian's studio became a way of creating abstract space outside his paintings.
Watch
Abstraction and Interpretation Study Day – Part 2: Paul Wood on Mondrian and Malevich
Session 1: An Introduction to the Idea of Abstraction and Interpretation
Features
Art Term
Format
Format is traditionally used to describe the shape or proportions of the support, for example the canvas, of a painting ...
Art Term
De Stijl
De Stijl was a circle of Dutch abstract artists who promoted a style of art based on a strict geometry ...
Art Term
School of Paris
In the early years of the twentieth century, Paris became a magnet for artists from all over the world and ...
Art Term
Neo-plasticism
Neo-plasticism is a term adopted by the Dutch pioneer of abstract art, Piet Mondrian, for his own type of abstract ...
Art Term
Hard edge painting
Hard edge painting is an approach to abstract painting that became widespread in the 1960s and is characterized by areas ...
Read
A brief history of abstract art with Turner, Mondrian and more
Takes a quick tour through the history of abstract art and take in some unexpected pioneers along the way
Blog
Lulu Guinness's top ten fashion meets art moments
The British accessories fashion designer Lulu Guinness OBE shares her top ten moments where the worlds of art and fashion ...
Read
How to spin the colour wheel, by Turner, Malevich and more
We take a quick skip through colour theory, and how some of modern art's giants have put it into ...
Read
Nicholas Fox Weber on finding the real Mondrian
We caught up with Mondrian biographer Nicholas Fox Weber to discuss what it is about the Dutch modernist painter that ...
Blog
The Sound of Mondrian playlist
Get a feel for the 'boogie-woogie' beat of Mondrian's paintings with our playlist of songs selected straight from the ...