Landscapes, flowers, still lifes and portraits: exhibition PUUR NATURE shows works from Piet Mondrian's early period.
Piet Mondrian (1872 - 1944) is best known as a pioneer of abstract art. However, he only started experimenting in this style around the age of 40, after leaving for Paris. Before then, he painted realistic scenes in which nature played a leading role. An exhibition focusing on Mondrian's figurative period will open at the Mondrian House on Friday 18 May this year.
Exhibition PUUR NATURE shows a selection of works from the period 1895 -1910. The exhibition shows a wide variety of subjects, including landscapes, portraits, flowers and still lifes. This shows how surprisingly versatile Mondrian was even in this phase of his life.
Landscapes
Mondrian lived a lot in Amsterdam during his Dutch period, but also stayed in several villages in the Netherlands. The painter was in the habit of going out by bike and drawing or painting in the open air what he found there: vast landscapes, farms, cows in the stable or windmills with the characteristic Dutch clouds. Although the subjects of his works in this period are figurative, you can see over time that composition and lines become important to Mondrian. His use of colour also changes over time: from dark, brown tones, to more bright colours.
Portraits
During his Dutch period, Mondrian also painted many portraits. Some of these were painted on commission, bringing in money. He also often portrayed people from his circle of acquaintances. One of the people portrayed in the exhibition is Frits Mondrian, Piet's uncle. Besides being a barber, Uncle Frits was also a painter, mainly of landscapes in the style of the Hague School. From him, Piet learned the first tricks of the trade.
Amaryllis
Top piece in the exhibition is the red amaryllis with blue background. Early in his career, but also still in his abstract period, Mondrian regularly painted flowers. Usually a single flower, such as a chrysanthemum or an amaryllis, at the centre of the composition. The general view is that Mondrian made the flowers because there was a market for them, but they certainly don't look like a 'must' and have great quality.