Seascape

Seascape is one of a number of paintings produced by Piet Mondrian during his summer breaks in Zeeland from around 1908-1912.

At this point in his career he was particularly interested in colour, mainly the combination of different colours and the effects that these would bring to a painting. He used yellows in large amounts, as well as purples, blues and oranges. He was not as concerned about detail as in previous years and also liked to use the local environment to inspire his work, which tended to be fairly flat and plain, ideal for abstract art. These characteristics did not make this region unattactive, though, and it was a haven for modern artists at that time, who likely would have approved of Mondrian's own contributions. There were also elements of pointilism to his style now, where as on other occasions he had been more in tune with impressionism and cubism.

Seascape was completed in 1909 using oil on cardboard. It is 50cm wide and 34.5cm tall, in the standard dimensions of a landscape painting. A number of other artworks have a similar set of dimensions, suggesting that he took a number of pieces of cardboard with him as he travelled around the region. This painting itself is now owned by the Gemeentemuseum in Den Haag, and they have many more pieces from Mondrian’s career. Somehow this institution was able to collect up a large number of lesser known paintings from his career, but these will not be extremely valuable. The interest in this artist’s career is now starting to widen, going beyond just the abstract forms that occurred later on.