Composition C
Piet Mondrian
Dutch, 1872–1944
1920
An oil painting in which Mondrian pares composition down to a grid of colored rectangles separated by dark lines to pursue a precise sense of balance and harmony.
At a glance the work reads as a calm, closely measured lattice—deep blues, warm reds, pale greens and grayed tones set in rectangles whose slight brushy texture and imperfect joints remind you this geometry is hand-made and tactile rather than mechanical.
Made as Mondrian moved toward neoplasticism, this painting helped establish an approach to pure abstraction that reduced art to verticals, horizontals, and color relationships to suggest universal order and equilibrium.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
23 3/4 x 24" (60.3 x 61 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest (by exchange)
Accession
257.1948
Palette
Exhibitions
