To mark the 150th anniversary of Piet Mondrian's birth, the Mondrian House has asked writer Bette Westera to write a children's book about the childhood of Piet, who was born in Amersfoort. The picture book is available in the museum shop.
For Bette Westera, whether she wanted to write a children's book about little Piet Mondrian was not a difficult question. Of course she wanted to! But it had to wait, because at the time she was terribly busy with the children's book week gift and everything that goes with it. Things have been going for the award-winning writer for many years. She has written over 50 books and has a long list of awards and accolades to her name, including two golden clamshells for the illustrated poetry collections Doodgewoon (2015) and Uit elkaar (2020), which she co-authored with illustrator Sylvia Weve.
For the picture book about Mondrian, Westera once again sought collaboration with Weve. Westera: 'Sylvia and I have enjoyed working together for twenty years. I start by writing the story and she later makes the drawings to go with it. They are always very different from what I had in mind, much catchier and more surprising than I could have imagined.'
In preparation for the book, Westera visited the Mondrian House, birthplace of the later famous painter, several times. 'That was a small effort, after all, I live nearby.' While walking through the building and reading his biography, the writer got more and more of an image and feeling for the young Mondrian. The result is a book that recounts in words and pictures the everyday life of little Piet: his father teaching him to draw, the fish market around the corner. The illustrations anticipate the artistic development he would later undergo. Ingeniously, Sylvia Weve has incorporated his famous paintings into the drawings.
Picture book Little Pete, Great Master is available from the Mondrian House and bookstores.
Photo: Bette Westera read from picture book Kleine Piet, Grote meester on 7 March (photo: Peter Putters)