Piet Mondrian
(Amersfoot 1872 - New York 1944)
Dutch painter, and one of the most significant figures in the Abstract art.
Trained at the Amsterdam Academy, his early works were influenced Neo-Impressionism and Cubism, exemplified by works like, Mill by the Water (MOMA, New York), Church at Zoutelande (Tate Gallery, New York) and Flowering Apple Tree (Gemeente Museum, The Hague).
His association with Theo van Doesburg led to the foundation of De Stijl, and the origination of Geometrical abstract painting. A famous and typical example of Mondrian´s artwork of this period is Composition in Yellow and Blue (Boymans Museum, Rotterdam), which consists of five lines, each with a different thickness, intersecting to create six triangles of different sizes. A few years later, he moved to Paris and became a key member of the Abstract Creation group. In 1922, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, held his first retrospective exhibition.
After a subsequent move to London, he migrated to New York, where Mondrian began painting with a more vibrant and colourful style, influenced by his interests in jazz and dance. An example of such a work is Broadway Boogie-Woogie (MOMA, New York).