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| Piet Mondrian in 1899 |
Piet Mondrian was born Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, Jr., on March 7, 1872, in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. He studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, from 1892 to 1897. Until 1908, when he began to take annual trips to Domburg in Zeeland, Mondrian’s work was naturalistic—incorporating successive on influences of academic landscape and still-life painting, Dutch Impressionism, and Symbolism. In 1909 a major exhibition of his work (with that of Jan Sluijters and Cornelis Spoor) was held at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and that same year he joined the Theosophic Society. In 1909 and 1910 he experimented with Pointillism and by 1911 had begun to work in a Cubist mode. After seeing original Cubist works by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso at the first Moderne Kunstkring exhibition in 1911 in Amsterdam, Mondrian decided to move to Paris. There, from 1912 to 1914, he began to develop an independent abstract style.
Mondrian was visiting the Netherlands when World War I broke out and prevented his return to Paris. During the war years in Holland, he further reduced his colours and geometric shapes and formulated his nonobjective Neoplastic style. In 1917 Mondrian became one of the founders of De Stijl. This group, which included Theo van Doesburg, Bart van der Leck, and Georges Vantongerloo, extended its principles of abstraction and simplification beyond painting and sculpture to architecture and graphic and industrial design. Mondrian’s essays on abstract art were published in the periodical De Stijl. In July 1919 he returned to Paris; there he exhibited with De Stijl in 1923, but withdrew from the group after van Doesburg reintroduced diagonal elements into his work around 1925. In 1930, Mondrian showed with Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square) and in 1931 joined Abstraction-Création.
World War II forced Mondrian to move to London in 1938 and then to settle in New York in October 1940. In New York he joined American Abstract Artists and continued to publish texts on Neoplasticism. His late style evolved significantly in response to the city. In 1942 his first solo show took place at the Valentine Dudensing Gallery, New York. Mondrian died February 1, 1944, in New York.
Biography from Guggenheim Museum, New York
Note: Many pieces by Piet Mondrian have been omitted from this series as they are deemed to be held in copyright.
This is part 1 of 9-part series on the works of Piet Mondrian:
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| 1890-92c Sheaves of Rye with Plough oil on cardboard 29 x 39 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1890c Dusk oil on canvas laid down on board 27.6 x 43.8 cm Private Collection |
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| 1891 Basket with Apples oil on canvas 49.5 x 72.8 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1891 Dead Hare oil on canvas 80 x 51 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1891-92c Pitcher, Jug and Basket pastel on paper 62 x 75 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1892-94c Woman Peeling Potatoes oil on canvas 80 x 65 cm Private Collection |
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| 1893 Still Life: Herring oil on canvas 66.5 x 77.5 cm Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam |
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| 1893-94c Warmth: Farm in the Achterhoek oil on canvas 63.5 x 75 cm |
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| 1893-95 The Singel with Round Lutheran Church oil on canvas 69 x 46 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1894-95c Irrigation Ditch, Bridge and Goat watercolour on paper 49 x 66 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1894-96 Women doing the Wash oil on canvas 28.8 x 23.8 cm |
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| 1894-96c Stream Bordered by Wooded Landscape oil on canvas laid down on board 28.5 x 37 cm Private Collection |
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| 1895 Farmyard with Laundry and Logs watercolour on paper 29 x 45 cm Private Collection |
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| 1895-96c Farm Building near Irrigation Ditch with Farmer at Work oil on canvas laid down on cardboard 30.5 x 39.4 cm Gutmann Gallery, Los Angeles, CA |
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| 1895-96c Tree Trunks on Sloping Land oil on canvas 33 x 41 cm |
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| 1895-96c Waals-Eilandgracht with Bridge and Flat Barges oil on paper laid down on panel 22.5 x 27.5 cm |
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| 1895-98c The Broeker House oil on canvas 82 x71 cm Private Collection |
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| 1895-1900c A House along the River Gein oil on panel 30.5 x 39.4 cm Private Collection |
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| 1896 Young Princess oil on canvas 59.5 x 50 cm Paleis Het Loo, Nationaal Museum, Apeldoorn, Netherlands |
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| 1897 Farmhouse oil on canvas 30.4 x 40.6 cm Private Collection |
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| 1897 Farmhouse with Wash on the Line oil on cardboard 31.5 x 37.5 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1897-98 Haystack and Farm Sheds in a Field oil on canvas 37 x 52 cm Private Collection |
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| 1897-98 Haystack watercolour and gouache on paper 64 x 47 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1897-98c Farmstead along a Canal oil on canvas 34 x 52 cm |
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| 1897-1907c Untitled ( River Landscape with Bridge ) black chalk on postcard 8.6 x 13.3 cm |
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| 1898-99 Farm Building with Haystack Viewed along the Horizon oil on paper 37 x 54 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1898-99 Woman and Farm Building in the Achterhoek oil on paper 37 x 23 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1898-99c Country Lane with Row of Workers' Houses oil on paper 39 x 29.5 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1898-99c Drydock at Durgerdam watercolour on paper 63 x 84 cm Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota |
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| 1898-99c Farm Buildings in an Achterhoek Village oil on panel laid down on cardboard 32 x 46.5 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1898-99c Houses and Paltrok Mill on the Voorweg oil on canvas laid down on board 27.6 x 38.5 cm Private Collection |
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| 1898-99c Rear Gables of Achterhoek Farm oil on canvas 33 x 45 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1898-99c The Boerenwetering with Shed of the Royal Wax Candle Factory oil on canvas laid down on cardboard 33 x 43 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1898-99c Three Cows in a Pot Stall watercolour on paper 39.5 x 66 cm Private Collection |
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| 1898-99c Two Girls in a Wood oil on paper laid down on cardboard 27.3 x 37.9 cm Musée Départemental du Prieuré, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France |
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| 1898-1900c Female Torso in Profile with Book watercolour on paper 89 x 50 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1898-1900c Seated Woman with Arms Crossed watercolour on paper 59.5 x 44.7 cm |
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| 1898c Lange Bleekerssloot with Barge oil on canvas laid down on panel 38.5 x 53 cm Private Collection |
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| 1898c Lange Bleekerssloot: View toward the Kostverlorenvaart oil on canvas laid down on panel 50.8 x 67.3 cm |
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| 1898c St. Jacob's Church, Winterswijk gouache on paper 75 x 50 cm Rijksmueum, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
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| 1898c Three Italian Poplars and Buildings oil on canvas laid down on panel |
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| 1898c Wingless Paltrok Mill in the Schinkelbuurt oil on canvas 31 x 38.5 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1898c Yellow Chrysanthemums in a Ginger Pot oil on canvas 42 x 34.5 cm |
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| 1899 On the Lappenbrink, Winterswijk gouache on paper 128 x 99 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| 1899 Portrait of a Girl charcoal on paper 51.8 x 41 cm Private Collection |
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| 1899 Still Life with Oranges 48 x 32 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
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| 1899 The Weaver's House gouache on paper 42.5 x 55.9 cm |
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| 1899-1900c White Roses oil on canvas 46.5 x 24 cm Private Collection |
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| 1899c Amsterdam Skyline Viewed from the West watercolour, gouache, and fabricated black chalk, with erasures, on cream wove paper 39.9 x 58.8 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1899c At Work ( aka In the Fields ) watercolour and gouache 54 x 79 cm Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands |
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| 1899c Farm Building with Bridge oil on canvas 33.3 x 43.8 cm Private Collection |
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| 1899c Farm Scene with St. Jacob's Church watercolour and gouache on paper 53 x 65 cm Private Collection |