by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on September 28, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
About the painting
Piet Mondrian's Portrait of Carolus Marinus Johannes Willem van Rijnen shows an older man facing the viewer from within a soft gray oval. White hair, a mustache and a pointed beard frame his face. His dark jacket and bow tie sink into the shadow below, while a small detail on the lapel catches the light. It is a carefully observed likeness from the painter best known for his later abstract compositions. RKD identifies the work as A271 and names the sitter, who lived from 1832 to 1903.[1]
The portrait's date is disputed. RKD gives c. 1900–1905?, with a question mark; the art dealer Simonis & Buunk reports 1908–11 according to Bax or 1914–15 according to Joosten. The dealer describes it as oil on panel, 49.6 × 39.1 cm, and records it as formerly for sale. Its loans archive lists private ownership after the dealer's involvement. Those differences matter: a later dating would make this a posthumous portrait of a man who died in 1903, rather than an image necessarily painted from a sitting.[1][2][3]
At a glance
- ArtistPiet Mondrian (Piet Mondriaan, 1872–1944)
- SitterCarolus Marinus Johannes Willem van Rijnen (1832–1903)
- DateDisputed: RKD c. 1900–1905?; Bax 1908–11 and Joosten 1914–15 as reported by Simonis & Buunk
- MediumOil on panel
- Dimensions49.6 × 39.1 cm (height × width), according to Simonis & Buunk
- Catalogue raisonnéA271
- Ownership recordPrivate ownership, formerly Simonis & Buunk, according to the dealer's loans archive[1][2][3]
Mondrian's portrait work and later paintings
Portrait of Carolus van Rijnen
date disputedPortrait of Louise van den Bosch
date disputedEvening: The Red Tree
1908–10Gray Tree
1911Contents
- What does the portrait show?
- Who was Carolus van Rijnen?
- Why do sources disagree on the date?
- How does it relate to the portrait of Louise?
- Where is the portrait now?
What does the portrait show?
Van Rijnen appears from the chest up, nearly facing us. Mondrian places his head high within a pale gray oval and darkens the space beyond it. The rounded field concentrates attention on the sitter without giving him a room, landscape or props. The portrait is built around the contrast of a light face against dark clothing and a muted ground. The shape of the oval is clear, but its interior is not a flat, uniform color.
 The Red Tree Piet Mondrian.jpg)
His hair spreads in pale, irregular strands around the forehead and ears. The white mustache crosses the upper lip and joins the darker tones of a short, pointed beard. The face is more closely modelled than the jacket: the nose, cheeks, mouth and eyes emerge through gradations of gray, pink and brown. That difference in finish directs attention to the expression while leaving the lower half comparatively quiet. The sitter looks out from the picture, yet the image gives no basis for assigning a particular mood or character to him.
A black bow tie marks the meeting of the white shirt and dark jacket. On the sitter's left lapel, at the viewer's right, a small colored ornament interrupts the dark fabric. The jacket loses definition toward the lower edge. Mondrian uses the softness of its outline to keep the face visually dominant. The portrait is intimate in scale: the dealer gives a panel just under 50 cm high. At that size, the lightness of the head and the dark oval border would remain its strongest features even when viewed across a room.[2]
The painting also shows that Mondrian's early practice included recognizable people as well as the trees, mills and landscapes often used to explain his path toward abstraction. RKD places A271 in its Amsterdam portrait group, alongside other named sitters. This is useful context for his range, although the group heading cannot settle the disputed date of this particular panel.[1]
Who was Carolus van Rijnen?
RKD supplies the sitter's full name and lifespan, 1832–1903, in the A271 catalogue line. The dealer uses the shortened form C.M.J.W. Rijnen in its title. These are names for the same sitter and painting. No occupation or personal history needs to be inferred from his dress or from the portrait itself.[1][2]
The dealer's provenance adds one possible family connection to the commission. It names Mrs J.C.C.L. Visser-Rijnen, previously married to J.L. Gunning, as the probable commissioner, and says the painting later passed by inheritance to a former private owner in the Netherlands. “Probable” is the dealer's qualification: the record does not establish a documented commission with certainty. It nevertheless helps explain why this likeness and a related woman's portrait have been discussed as a pair.[2]
The portrait has been publicly shown, but past exhibition is different from present display. Simonis & Buunk records loans to the Mondriaanhuis in Amersfoort in 2005 and 2006–08, Museum Freriks in Winterswijk in 2010–11, and Villa Mondriaan in Winterswijk in 2014–16, among other exhibitions. These dated appearances are evidence of its exhibition history, not a promise that the panel is currently accessible at any of those venues.[2]
Watch: Piet Mondrian
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Watch on YouTubeWhy do sources disagree on the date?
The difference is unusually large. RKD's online catalogue places A271 at c. 1900–1905?. Its question mark signals uncertainty rather than a firm year. Simonis & Buunk's object description instead reports two later scholarly opinions: 1908–11 attributed to Bax and 1914–15 attributed to Joosten. The dealer's record does not choose a single date. An article that simply labels the portrait “1903” or “1915” would disguise this evidence.[1][2]
The sitter's death in 1903 gives the disagreement a practical consequence. If Mondrian painted the panel in the earlier part of RKD's suggested range, Van Rijnen could have been alive. If either later dating is correct, the painting was made after his death. That does not tell us which visual source Mondrian used, whether he worked from a photograph, or why the picture was commissioned. None of the cited public records establishes those details.[1][2]
For the viewer, the uncertainty need not diminish the portrait. Its careful depiction of the face and its restrained tonal setting can be seen directly. The date should be given as an open research question, with each estimate tied to the source that makes it. The question is particularly worth remembering when comparing this work with securely dated early landscapes or with Mondrian's paintings of the 1910s: the picture alone cannot supply the missing chronology.
How does it relate to the portrait of Louise?
RKD lists A272, Portrait of Louise Charlotte Mathilde van den Bosch (1843–1907), immediately after Van Rijnen's A271. Simonis & Buunk describes his portrait as made “together with pendant” and separately names a portrait of Mrs L.C.M. Rijnen-van den Bosch in its loans archive. The records therefore support treating the two paintings as a pendant pair, while preserving each object's own catalogue number and measurements.[1][2][3]
The man's panel measures 49.6 × 39.1 cm in the dealer record. Its entry for the woman's panel gives 49.1 × 38.7 cm. Those close but different sizes reinforce why the portraits can be discussed together without treating them as interchangeable. The site's separate article on Louise Charlotte Mathilde van den Bosch follows A272; the image and object details on this page belong to A271.[2][3]
Both names also appear in the wider record of Mondrian's portrait practice. Their paired format suggests the customary visual conversation between two likenesses, but the cited sources do not document exactly where the pictures first hung or how viewers first encountered them. The useful comparison begins with what can be verified: two named sitters, two catalogue numbers, similar panel dimensions and a dealer description of the works as pendants.
Where is the portrait now?
RKD's A271 list still names Simonis & Buunk in Ede. The dealer's object page, however, explicitly labels the portrait formerly for sale, and its loans archive says private ownership, formerly Simonis & Buunk. The latter is the more informative statement about the record after the dealer handled the work. It does not give a named current owner or a current public display location.[1][2][3]
Wikimedia Commons carries an RKD-sourced reproduction of this exact A271 image and lists the dealer's former inventory number 9968. Its rounded dimensions, 49.7 × 39 cm, differ slightly from the dealer's more precise 49.6 × 39.1 cm. Such a small recording difference does not indicate a second painting. The same face, oval backdrop, bow tie and lapel detail identify the image shown here; the page retains its existing matching reproduction.[4]
Mondrian artworks directory
Frequently asked questions
When did Mondrian paint Carolus van Rijnen?
What is the portrait made of?
Simonis & Buunk records oil on panel. Its measurements are 49.6 × 39.1 cm.[2]
Who is shown in the painting?
RKD identifies the sitter as Carolus Marinus Johannes Willem van Rijnen (1832–1903) and catalogues the painting as A271.[1]
Was it paired with another portrait?
Can I see the original painting in a museum?
Discussion
Does the gray oval or the sitter’s face hold your eye first?
Reader Insights
Follow the sitter’s gaze, then look down toward the bow tie. Where does your eye stop?
Which detail of the face becomes clearer after a second look?
How does this portrait of Carolus compare with the companion portrait of Louise?
Join the Conversation
Share what you notice in this painting below.
References
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, Mondrian catalogue raisonné, portraits A270–A277, including A271 and A272. View source.
- Simonis & Buunk, object record for Portret van C.M.J.W. Rijnen tezamen met pendant, formerly for sale, with medium, dimensions, dating, provenance and exhibitions. View source.
- Simonis & Buunk, museum loans archive, A271 and companion portrait, private ownership and former dealer handling. View source.
- Wikimedia Commons, RKD-sourced A271 file record, RKDimages 174000, with image, oil-on-panel description and former dealer inventory 9968. View source.
- Lead image credit. Piet Mondrian, Portrait of Carolus Marinus Johannes Willem van Rijnen, RKD A271, oil on panel. The date is disputed; Simonis & Buunk records former dealer handling and private ownership.
