Piet Mondrian is a Dutch painter who has carved a unique niche for himself on the global platform matching the likes of other celebrity painters. He is possibly best known for being one of the founders of the De Stijl, which incorporated an art movement that worked around abstract works, and the new art forms that were being introduced to the world in the early 20th century. The movement was also based on the reductive theory; which took a larger scale image, and brought it to life on the canvas, in architectural works, and in sculpture forms, and in the form of graphic arts as well.
Piet Mondrian was born in the Netherlands, and received his formal training there; he attended the Rijksadame van Beeldende in Amsterdam. Mondrian was born 24 years after Van Gogh, but the art was the same as it had been when Van Gogh went away into the marshes to paint. Mondrian took an interest in impressionist techniques and this form of art with the early works that he did. Like Van Gogh, Mondrian use pure, glowing colors and expressive brushwork under the influence of pointillism and Fauvism. The still life images, the landscape design work, and other scenes which he depicted in his early career, all depicted this style.
The first decade of the 20th century, Piet Mondrian began to make a transition in the works that he would create. The work moved towards a pointillist and cubist style of art, as well as other abstract mediums that he engaged in during this early stage of his career. In 1912, he made the move to Paris, to gain further knowledge of the avante grand style of work. This move took place after he saw exhibits which featured works from Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, and was interested in the styles they followed, and the extreme intricacy of the work which they had created during the courses of their career.
Due to the fact that he was visiting his home in the Netherlands when World War I began, Piet Mondrian was not able to return to Paris for a short period of time, and had to remain at home, where he again developed a new style of work, and took on a different approach to the works which he created during this time in his life. During this period, when he was at home and in Holland, he decided to work on an abstract art form and developed a neoplastic style. The work which he produced during this period was depicted by lighter colors, simplified color selection, and forms that were balanced in their compositions. He also developed work which delved in to the spiritual realm, and created more of a connection with religion, and his faith, as opposed to the prior works which were not focused on this point.
Once the war had come to a close, Piet Mondrian decided to return to Paris; upon his arrival, he began to work with Theo van Doesburg, as well as other famous artists in the area, and this is when they developed the De Stijl movement which was quite famous, and is possibly what Piet Mondrian is most well known for during the course of his extensive career. The group was formed in 1917, and it extended the aesthetic principles to architecture, sculpture, canvas, and graphic art design which Piet Mondrian followed.
Upon a disagreement with van Doesburg, about the use of diagonal lines in painting and art work, Piet Mondrian decided to leave the group, and to start to work on new movements, and new forms of art he had not really entered in to in the past. In 1931, he jointed the Abstraction- Creation line, which was more open to new styles, to new techniques, and to a difference in styles of work, which the artists would create.
When World War II began, Piet Mondrian decided to make the move over to London, and he eventually wound up in the US, living in New York. In 1942 he held his first solo exhibit; this was only a few years prior to his death in 1944. The work was presented in a large gallery in NYC, and was accepted by visitors as well as his piers in the art world.
In addition to being a celebrated artist, and founder of different art groups and reforms, Piet Mondrian also wrote a number of pieces during his career. He had many of these pieces published. His writings dealt with neoplasticism and how the art form had changed, and with abstract work in general. He published a number of theoretical texts during the course of his life, and they were published in various magazines and other art articles, during the course of his career.
Piet Mondrian not only is a leader in progressive styles and change in form, but he is also well known around the world due to the fact that his art work is published around the world, and that so many of his famous pieces are housed in different parts of the world. He has work in several galleries in New York, including the first open one person exhibit that he did, just a few years prior to his death. In addition to work published in New York, there are also pieces that sit in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Outside of the US, he also has work that is on display in Paris, in Switzerland, in Amsterdam, and in many other museums and exhibits which are located around the world.
To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual.”
- Piet Mondrian
Due to his appeal with the different forms, and his ability to create work that touched so many, Piet Mondrian is one of the well known artists who began his work early in the 20th century. Although he was born outside of the US, he did eventually make his way to the Western World, and was able to become quite famous in his own right, for the quality and styles that he took on with his work. He is not only known as a famous abstract painter in the US, but also in his home town in Amsterdam, and in Paris where he made a brief stay, to learn about the different forms and artists he was interested in. The Paris Studio of Mondrian that he established for creating some of the best artistic gems has been made iconic, which serves as an inspiration to the modern painters. More specifically, the wall works that Mondrian brought to the fore can never be ignored for sure. Tate Gallery in London houses one of the best works created by Mondrian every by experimenting with the latest color combinations. Perhaps, this has proved to be major asset of his in later part of his life. Precisely, one of his paintings titled Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red mesmerizes art lovers still because of the unique freshness it has got. In fact, there are such countless observations of Piet Mondrian that are known to make a huge impact upon the emerging painters easily.