Artist in Focus - Piet Mondrian

Mondrian was born in Holland in 1872 and was determined to become a painter from a young age. He qualified with a teaching degree in 1892 as insisted upon by his family, but enrolled for painting lessons himself, before moving to Amsterdam and registering at the Rijksacademie.

Mondrian became a member of the art society Kunstliefde “Art Lovers” in Utrecht, where his first paintings were exhibited in 1893. He experimented with many different styles including naturalistic, impressionist and painting many landscapes of his native country.

In 1911 he moved to Paris and the influence of Cubism, as evidenced by Picasso and Braque, started to appear almost immediately in his work. He spent the duration of the First World War back in Holland and continued his journey towards abstraction.

After the War had finished Mondrian returned to France. He then moved to London in 1938 but relocated to New York just two years later in 1940, where he remained until his death.

Mondrian is well known for his contribution to the development of modern abstract art. He strove to portray an extreme ‘formal purity’ through his combination of simplistic straight lines and bold primary colours.