Piet Mondrian, 1872-1944

Book excerpt: This volume presents Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). His earliest landscapes are rendered in an Impressionistic style but, possess the marked vertical and horizontal tendencies that foreshadow his mature paintings. Mondrian's work began to show the influences of Cubism, and in 1912, the artist moved to Paris where he continued to refine his style, continually exploring increasingly sophisticated compositions. In his paintings, Mondrian strove to achieve a universal form of expression by reducing form and color to their simplest components. The artist termed his work "Neo-Plasticism". Mondrian's most well-known works consisted of white ground, upon which was painted a grid of vertical and horizontal black lines and the three primary colors.