Composition in White, Black, and Red
Piet Mondrian
Dutch, 1872–1944
Paris 1936
An oil on canvas geometric abstraction in which Mondrian pares painting down to white planes divided by precise black grid lines and a single red block to suggest pure, universal balance.
The surface reads at once spare and rhythmic: flat white expanses interrupted by crisp vertical and horizontal black bands that form offset rectangles, the composition grounded by a striking red bar at the lower right.
A key example of Mondrian’s Neoplasticism, this painting pushed abstraction toward an architectural clarity that shaped later modern design, minimalism, and ideas about visual harmony.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
40 1/4 x 41" (102.2 x 104.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the Advisory Committee
Accession
2.1937
Palette
Exhibitions
