Willow Grove: Impression of Light and Shadow Piet Mondrian Buy Art Prints Now
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Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 14, 2023
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000

This painting is an early impressionist artwork from Piet Mondrian, capturing a group of trees within the local Dutch countryside.

Willow Grove: Impression of Light and Shadow is an experimental study from Mondrian who is aiming to learn about how to capture certain atmospheric conditions within an impressionist style. He focuses on how light appears through the gaps between the trees and also adds a river which reflects many of the elements around it. The branches are added loosely, single brush strokes create narrow branches which contrast considerably with the thick trunks, suggesting that the trees have recently been cut back and are in the process of re-growing. The leaves are added with rough touches of green tones, deliberately loosely as the artist enjoys putting this composition together.

Mondrian produced a wide oeuvre during his career but most is forgotten compared to the dominance of the Plasticist paintings which most now think of when hearing his name. In truth, there is much more to enjoy than just that, with a real variety in his early days as he started to form his own style. It is fascinating to see the progress made over a decade or two, and the same can be said for Pollock and Miro too. It seems inevitable that early periods will be a time of personal discovery where youthful passion will encourage artists to try out many different ideas.

The original artwork can be found at the Dallas Museum of Art, a respected art institution that holds a number of Mondrian's paintings alongside a large collection which aims to educate its visitors about a wide variety of artistic periods and styles. Their website includes photographs of this artwork from the front and behind but please check ahead if you wish to view this artwork in person as it may not always be on display. Like most major galleries, they have more in their collection than they can display at any one time, meaning that rotations must be made and also some items may sometimes be loaned out for exhibitions elsewhere.