The intention for this page is nothing less than
to show every Mondrian painting. I have many books containing many of M's
paintings, but I still find it difficult to categorise the various creative
periods he went through and the number of pictures created in each. My
favourites are the best-known Compositions, of which there are many - but how
many and how similar and how different are they? This I intend to explore. It
will take a long time and is unlikely to ever be complete, but it will be fun.
You have to start somewhere.
Reorganisation 25th October
2001. Barely started but the page is taking too long to download so I need to
break it up. There are two clear choices, to organise by date or by subject
matter - landscapes, flowers, diamonds, compositions etc. I am going for dates
because that is in line with the original intention for the page, to show the
chronological development of his style. I also makes the job easier for me as
there are categories and sub-categories and grey areas which I will not have to
worry about.
I intend to show one picture
from each decade on this first page. Initially I will just go for a favourite,
but might change this later to a slightly more academic choice.
A key for the pictures' descriptive information is
given at the bottom of the page.
Pre 1900
Village Church
- De Jacobskerk in Winterswijk
1898
Pencil,
charcoal, pastel, watercolour and gouache on paper
75
x 50
Lindeboom Collection
Source:
Christies sale catalogue 1999
1900's
Well, I don't really like
any of the pictures currently on display from that decade so this slot will
remain vacant for the moment
1910's
There is so much happening
in the 1910's that I will have to show a few from that decade
Amaryllis
1910
Watercolour on paper
39 x 49 cm
Source: PM
Ref PM26
Composition
1916
oil on canvas (with wooden strip nailed to
the bottom edge)
119 x 75.1
Guggenheim Museum, NY
Source: PM
Ref: PM71, S424, B51, O291
1920's
Composition with
Blue and Red
1929
oil on canvas
40.5 x 32
MoMA
Source: PM
Ref: PM119, S480, O354
Composition with
Yellow and Blue
1929
oil on canvas
52 x 52
Museum Boymans-van Beuninihen, Rotterdam
Source: PM
Ref: PM122, S512, B280, O385
1930's
Composition with
Yellow and Double Line
1932
Oil on canvas
45.3 x 45.3
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Source PM
Ref PM136
Trafalgar Square
1939-43
Oil on canvas
145.5 x 120
MoMA
Source: PM
Ref: PM158, S579, O463
1940's
New York City I
1941 (first state)
1941-42
(second state)
Oil on canvas
119
x 114
Musee national d'art moderne,
Paris
Source: PM
Ref
PM164, S587, B69, O458
Victory
Boogie-Woogie
1943-44
unfinished
oil and paper on canvas
diagonal 177.5 cm
private
collection (I thought it was acquired by a netherlands museum recently)
Source:
Mondrian, Structures in Space, Taschen
Ref:
PM166, S592, O472
The information for each picture approximates to
Title
That should be simple, but M had
a habit of retitling works for each exhibition, so one of my favourites is
known as Composition C, Composition no. III and Composition with Red
Yellow and Blue. I tend to favour the descriptive titles, when there is
one.
Additionally, M reworked a number of pieces, resulting in two titles, for
example Composition of Red and White no. 1 (1938) became Composition no. 4
in 1942 and is dated "38-42".
Date
Again, reworks can complicate
this, but it tends to be the first exhibit date.
Medium
Oil, watercolour etc.
Size
in centimeters
Location
Where it is now (or was when the
source published the details)
My main reference work, as
mentioned on the main page, is the book Piet Mondrian published for the
triple exhibition. A number PMnnn gives the reference number in the book.
If known, I also give the references in
Seuphor, 1956, Ottolenghi, 1974 and Blok, 1974 (see the main page for full
details of those books). So, for example, Broadway Boogie Woogie, which
appears in all four books will be shown as PM165 S590 O464 B69-70. But
there are limits to the amount of detail I will include.
