Piet Mondrian - Artist and Philosopher

In the first half of the 20th century, Dutch artist Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) created an artistic style known as Neo-Plasticism. Curiously enough it is not a style that has been followed by many serious artists, but remains solely his own. Perhaps this is because Mondrian accomplished it so well; any attempt to follow in his footsteps seems to be merely an imitation. Indeed how does one improve on perfection?

When I first saw the art of Piet Mondrian, I was in college. I remember thinking, “Okay, so what’s the big deal?” I mean after all it looked like a pattern for linoleum or maybe kitchen wallpaper. Fifteen years later as I revisit Mondrian’s life's work, I understand. What nowadays - and even 15 years ago - seemed nothing special was, in the 1920’s, new – amazingly so. Mondrian wasn’t painting in anyone else’s style, he was following his own vision – a very balanced orderly vision. Piet Mondrian was a purist, true to his ideals. Because of this, he was able to continue in his own unique style through years of poverty. He was an idealist who embraced the creativity of the era in which he lived. Like Sir Thomas More (1516) before him and Aldous Huxley (1962) after him, Mondrian believed Utopia - a socially, politically and morally perfect world - was achievable, and he sought to create an art worthy of it.

As a young man, Piet Mondrian started out painting according to Dutch tradition. In the first decade of the 20th century he worked at mastering the art of painting. In the next decade, his works took on a more abstract quality. He would often paint the same subjects – a windmill, a church tower or a particular tree over and over again as he tried to achieve a certain result. He tried out each new artistic trend as he came across it. When he followed the artistic trend of Symbolism, his art was very much like that of others painting in the same style. Even painting in the style of the French Fauvists and the German Expressionists (“The Red Tree” - http://www.artchive.com/artchive/ftptoc/... ) or the Pointillism of Georges Seurat, his art lacked the originality that he would discover in Neo-Plasticism. Mondrian painted some wonderful paintings in the style of Dutch Naturalism - a style that I find myself quite comfortable with. But only when Mondrian went to live in Paris did his art begin to leave the traditions of others behind. In Paris he was immediately attracted to the Cubism of Picasso and Braque and when he painted in that style, it was his own particular version of Cubism. It was notable enough that art reviewers began to remark on it. (Composition No. II: Composition in Line and Color - http://www.artchive.com/artchive/ftptoc/... ) But Mondrian couldn’t stop there. He was compelled to move on in his artistic search.

When he returned to Holland and was forced to remain there for the duration of World War I, he became associated with both Theo van Doesburg and Bart van der Leck and the ‘de Stijl’ movement was born. These men and many other artists, poets and architects sought to express themselves in an aesthetically pure manner – to us that would be translated as abstract. (Composition with Color Planes and Gray Lines 1 - http://www.artchive.com/artchive/ftptoc/... ) In 1942 Mondrian wrote an article on “Pure Plastic Art.” It is interesting to me that Mondrian was at heart a philosopher. To quote him: “Art is only a substitute as long as the beauty of life is deficient. It will disappear in proportion as life gains in equilibrium. Today art is still of the greatest importance, because it demonstrates plastically in a direct way, liberated of individual conceptions, the laws of equilibrium.” Mondrian’s belief in plastic art was sacred to him. In fact, it was his unyielding resolve that caused him to break with the “de Stijl” group when Theo van Doesburg preferred the use of the diagonals over what Mondrian considered the correctness of right angles. Still I believe it is fortunate for us that Mondrian had to go his own way and leave behind the views of his friends.

After the war, Mondrian went back to Paris where he painted in the style we associate with his name. (“Composition in Red, Yellow and Blue” - http://titan.glo.be/~gd30144/mondrian.ht... ) He was so true to his art that even the walls in his own apartment were painted to look like one of his paintings. When World War II broke out he moved safely to England and then on to New York. Mondrian loved the freedom of America and painted two of his most famous works there. (“Broadway Boogie Woogie http://www.artchive.com/artchive/ftptoc/... and “Victory Boogie Woogie” - http://www.gemeentemuseum.nl/engels/coll... )

Looking at Mondrian’s career and life, I find it ironic that we use his designs for kitchen wallpaper knowing that Mondrian painted his own walls in just that way. Mondrian’s major artistic influence came to be on architecture, graphic arts and, indeed, interior design. And while his art is not for us the end-all he believed it to be, it is an aesthetically pleasing backdrop for life.

Copyright 2001 Patricia Dake

Sources:

Elgar, Frank. Mondrian. New York, Washington: Frederick A. Praeger, Publishers. 1968

Janson, H.W. History of Art ~ A Survey of the Major Visual Arts from the Dawn of History to the Present Day. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. and New York: Harry Abrams, Inc., 1977.

Wijsenbeek, Louis Jacob Florus and translated from Dutch by Irene R. Gibbons. Mondrian. Grennwich Connecticutt: New York Graphic Society LTD, 1968.

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/ftptoc/...

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/archiv...