My grandfather was an American born Dutchman named Peter De Boer who moved to California from Iowa after his farm was destroyed in a fire and started a business building fences for dairy farmers. After his death I learned my grandfather had an unusual skill of building perfectly straight fences without the use of a plumb-bob. The concept of straight lines remained present in me when I moved to New York City a few years later and visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the first time. This is where I experienced my first Piet Mondrian Composition painting and was immediately inspired due to the ability to see the work of my grandfather in Mondrian’s lines.
Like the fences my grandfather built, which were used to corral cows, Mondrian used hard-edged black lines as a way of holding, or corralling the paintings composition. The design of his painting is as much about composition as it is about the inherent way of life that his strict Dutch Reformed protestant upbringing distilled in him. Growing up in the Dutch Reformed Christian faith means that he studied Calvinism, a theology based on total depravity, which is a belief that man is enslaved to sin and is redeemed only through predestination. While Mondrian physically moved away from his family, and by his own account, “was willing to give up everything for art,” his first spiritual connection which is rooted in the Calvinist theology was a guiding force in his desire for creating Utopian compositions which at first glance appear to be inhuman. Yet, Mondrian knew full-well that the traces and evidence of his fallible human hand was a consequence of total depravity. Searching for freedom of Calvinist teachings led Mondrian to develop de Stijl, which was informed by his readings of theosophy, a belief that all religions are attempts to help humanity evolve to greater perfection. These modernist standards coupled with “Mondrian’s background nevertheless endowed him with important qualities: outstanding resoluteness and probity; belief in the sanctity of principles; faith in the illuminating power of truth; and conviction of the duty to actively spread truth through word and image,” gave Mondrian the ability to understand his work fully and be able to believe in it as truth.
I am reminded of that day when I could feel my grandfather’s presence in Mondrian’s painting when I look at Composition in White, Red and Yellow, 1936. Not only because this geometric abstract oil painting is created by intersecting and connecting a variation of vertical and horizontal black hard-edged lines, which create twenty open spaces, but because this painting, like my grandfather, is spiritual. Eighteen of the twenty open spaces are painted white with the additional red plane in the top left corner and another yellow plane on the middle far right side of the painting. On a formal level these open spaces can be read as both positive and negative space. On a more spiritual level, they can be viewed as an exploration of the multiple parameters of perception.
Through the means of total depravity, Mondrian understood the sense of tragedy in nature and his attempts at eliminating this element are apparent in Composition in White, Red and Yellow, which relies on formal pictorial elements and brings a level of balance that only Mondrian has been able to produce. The harmonious yet rigid black lines and color show Mondrian’s incredible ability to create picture planes through stylized composition paintings. His use of line and color share a perfect balance and ease with each other due to the central rectangle, which is created by the integration of black lines. The whole composition revolves around this white rectangular space, which allows the viewer’s eyes to have a resting place. Through Theosophy, Mondrian believed that all religions shared truths, and this is evident in this painting where the composition relies on multiple variations of divided space and color in order for the work to reflect his spiritual life.
Composition in White, Red and Yellow can be considered an attempt at pure abstraction even though it was primarily inspired by Cubism. The Cubist ability to resolve visible reality into multiple picture planes and lines is always apparent in his work. But unlike the Cubists, who fragmented nature, Mondrian linked the fragmentation of the picture plane with his Theosophical beliefs. In this realm, the pure abstract qualities of this painting are at the forefront of its ability to not rely on nature. Interestingly, Mondrian’s grid paintings have a direct connection to the architectural planning of cities. While this is not exactly nature it bears relevant similarities to the societies created during the industrial revolution. It is not a surprise that Mondrian felt comfortable living in a city such as New York, where the gridded streets and avenues create a unified language for how a culture organizes their daily life. In Composition in White, Red and Yellow, the picture denies perspective and relies on the belief that flatness is the purest form of painting. When pictorial flatness is the most important element in the work of art, the object-hood of the painting becomes a source and an added layer of visual interpretation.
As previously noted, equal to Mondrian’s interest in pure abstraction is the spiritual qualities the painting incorporates. The balance and oneness the painting expresses is evidence of Mondrian’s quest for spiritual truth. The intersecting black hard-edged lines and composed color can be viewed as a road map for his spiritual journey. Being true to the grid, these black hard-edged lines were only ever painted vertically and horizontally, never on a diagonal. Mondrian was so passionate about the grid only operating in this way that it led to the dissolving of the long time friendship he had with fellow de Stijl artist, Theo van Doesburg who painted diagonal lines in his work. The reason for his adamant belief that line can only be painted either horizontal or vertical is related to his Theosophical beliefs. In a statement, Mondrian reveals that he believes there are two ways towards spirituality: the way of the pupil directly practicing (meditation etc.) and the slow, sure way of evolution. This reveals itself in art. One sees in art the slow development towards the spiritual, while the makers are completely unaware of this. The conscious way of learning on the stairway of evolution where it is possible for a conscious spirit to be directly achievable, then you have ideal art.
This pluralistic view is further evidence of his attempt at a Utopian ideal in art and also verifies his continuous effort to separate himself from the teachings of total depravity.
Mondrian’s use of oil on canvas elicits his formal understanding of the language of painting. The minimal texture created through brushstrokes going in all directions creates body and adds depth to flat colors. This depth through flatness shows that his use of oil paint as a medium was the only way this painting could have been made. The creation of a “slick-style” is important to this painting and while this artwork shows signs of aging, the rawness and a hand-made quality appear to have accompanied this painting since its original date of creation. The lines are, in fact, perfectly straight when viewed from a reasonable distance. Upon closer inspection, however, the imperfection of the line’s hard edge quality creates a human quality and nuance when accompanied by the flat white, red and yellow color planes. It is an obvious intention of Mondrian’s to make the hard edge painting elements have a uniform amount of imperfection and to allow the texture of the canvas to show through when the lines and flat color planes do not meet perfectly. Another quality to this work, which is obviously not Mondrian’s intention, is the surface craquelure, which immediately creates the illusion of historical relevance. Craquelure on oil paintings is typically a result of the stressful shrinking and relaxing the canvas has experienced due to heat and other natural elements. This historical quality creates a layer of vintage significance to this work of art and it is impossible to disregard this visual element when analyzing the work.
This work is exceptionally flat in its reading. It is important to notice that Composition in White, Red and Yellow has a three dimensional, dual layered white frame, which the painting is built into. In other words, the white frame is part of the painting, not just a formal three dimensional structure to display the work. This attachment the painting has with the frame creates the illusion that the canvas is being projected forward. Interestingly, Mondrian did not choose to add this element into the materials list, which accompanies the painting.
It is not a coincidence that Mondrian leaves out the word black from the title of Composition in White, Red and Yellow. This work and most of his other works are decidedly about lines. Composition in White, Red and Yellow does not elude this fact and appears to be mostly about the colors black and white. Even though black and white are the dominating colors in this work of art, the minimal use of red and yellow are the deciding features, which make this painting not only interesting but able to stand on its own as an autonomous object. All of the colors are defined by edges and boundaries for which each color operates singularly and also contrasts with each other. The colors are equally as important as line. Prior to making Composition in White, Red and Yellow, he experimented with colored lines. In Composition with Yellow Lines (1933), the lines were painted yellow and were so wide that they appear to be represented forms. This one work was an isolated experiment until he moved to New York and in the 1940’s revisited this investigation of the colored line in his Boogie Woogie paintings.
Composition in White, Red and Yellow also boasts the double line both vertically and horizontally. Mondrian was directly influenced by one of his own disciples, Marlow Moss. This repetition in line bears increasing importance to Mondrian when filtered through his ideal that there is two ways towards spirituality. When writing about this work he says, “In my last works the double line was widened to a form and yet it is still more of a line. But whatever the case, I think this is one of the issues that falls outside theories and which is so subtle that in the long run it falls under the mystery of ‘art’. However, that is still not entirely clear to me!” His unclear intentions show that by this stage in his life; theosophy had become part of who he was. This enabled him to test the boundaries and search for new ways of creating theory, which matched both his beliefs and his pictorial studies.
Testing the boundaries of his medium became an important feature of Mondrian’s later works. Through the layered paint and constructed visual qualities, Composition in White, Red and Yellow displays Mondrian’s sensitivity towards the architectural quality his paintings convey. Even further is the importance of his interpretation of the future of architecture; where he believed that all new architecture must be conceived in terms of flat planes, a theory developed through his writings on Neo-Plasticism. This is obviously much easier to accomplish in painting than it is in architecture where the three-dimensional will seemingly always interrupt the flat picture plane. Yet, Mondrian believed that this was possible through further removing oneself from nature and placing perspective everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. Theosophical beliefs such as these, where multi-dimensionality is not restricted by time/space are a testimony to his spiritual practice as way of life. Mondrian was realistic in his undertaking of the matter, recognizing that his vision would never be fully realized in his time. He continued to investigate these ideals of architecture by constantly rearranging his studio and searching for perfect harmony between objects in a space and called these visual relationships “cosmic harmony.” This idea of “cosmic harmony” is by itself theosophical and representative of Mondrian’s complete submersion in not only his practice as an artist, but his practice as a spiritual being.
Distressed by the war, which had invaded the Netherlands and his adopted home in Paris, and had left him unable to paint, Mondrian made plans to move to New York. During this time in New York his paintings and his beliefs began to evolve. After having devoted most of his efforts as a painter towards the use of black line and small blocks of color, as is the case for Composition in White, Red and Yellow, Mondrian now realized that these works were drawings in oil due to the black line being the most expressive form in the work. Mondrian’s decisive move away from the black line and his interest in the Blues and boogie-woogie music produced works where the lines dissolve into areas of color and appear to dance with the composition rather than using black lines as form for color to live in.
Mondrian’s desperation for perfection is the key element in not only Composition in White, Red and Yellow, but all of his work. His striving for perfection is elemental in his role as a spiritual being in search of the Utopian. Whether it was his childhood upbringing as a young Calvinist or his conversion into the belief in theosophy, it is all apparent in his work and therefore, of equal importance. His spiritual evolution is as important as the work itself, and its Utopian qualities are structured in his belief that “humanity is able to convey beauty into life and into our material surroundings so that they become beautiful themselves. To this end, then, they must be renewed before the past dies and before the future is born.”
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Bibliography
Bax, Marty. Complete Mondrian. Hampshire, UK: Lund Humphries, 2001.
Mondrian, Piet. Composition in White, Red and Yellow, 1936. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Harry Holtzman, The New Art - The New Life. Boston: G.K. Hall & Company, 1986.
Piper, John. www.monergism.com. 1998. http://monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/piper/depravity.html (accessed December 2, 2010).
Sweeney, James Johnson. Piet Mondrian: The Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art, 12:4. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1945, 2-12.
Unknown. www.theosophy-ny.org. November 26, 2010. http://www.theosophy-ny.org/701.html (accessed December 2, 2010).
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