Piet MONDRIAN

‘Art is superior to reality and has no direct relationship with it. To approach the spiritual in art, reality should be used as little as possible, because reality is opposed to the spiritual. What we have here is abstract art. Art must be above reality, otherwise it would have no value for man.’

Using only straight lines and neutral, primary colours, Mondrian led the way in a unique form of geometric abstraction known as neo-plasticism. Each work shows minor variations in the choice and shade of colours, the thickness of the black lines, and the size and shape of the geometric grids.

Mondrian selected his colours in relation to each other. ‘It is not enough to place a red, a blue, a yellow and a grey side by side, because that is purely decorative,’ he wrote in the magazine De Stijl.