Composition in White and Blue

Mondrian the Modern One

In 1915 Dutch cubist Piet Mondrian had a belief that paintings should soar like that of cathedral peaks.

The white plane in the empty centre of his composition gave the colour a suggestion of moving areas around it and this ended up being a regular subject with his work beyond 1921. Mondrian’s idea of purity and harmony showed through his Neo-Plastic expression. Neo- Plastic is De Stijl, which means ‘The Style’.

The 1936 Vertical Composition in White and Blue is one of his idealistic views of the ‘new plastic’. It does not disregard the essentials of the appearance or natural form and colour but it shows its own expression through the abstract form and colour.

He focused on the dominant white and with the restriction of colours there are an exhaustible means of symbolising balance. As minimal as the colour is, when the vertical lines pass by the horizontal lines the colour will still interact with complex subtlety.

Mondrian painted his squares and lines differently when faced with the hustle and bustle of city living. The cubist's Neo-Plastic expression of the sounds and energies of the boulevards became kaleidoscopic.

The paintings, although motionless, appeared to the eye to have movement though his symmetric and asymmetric style.

Piet Mondrian chose to represent the world by painting the way he saw modern reality as a very basic vertical and horizontal element which is represented by 2 opposing forces – positive and negative, feminine and masculine, static and dynamic.

Late in his life, he would reflect upon the natural world with new energy inspired abstract paintings of New York City. He developed a new technique for modern art, although he remained true to his theories and format, he made use of coloured squares and yellow lines. His visions on canvas have influenced all directions of modern art as we know it today.