About This Artwork

Piet Mondrian
Dutch, 1872–1944

Farm near Duivendrecht, c. 1916

Oil on canvas
34 x 42 1/2 in. (86.3 x 107.9 cm)
Signed, l.r.: "Piet Mondriaan"
Gift of Dolly J. van der Hoop Schoenberg, 2001.479

Medieval to Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Gallery 392B

Piet Mondrian was a pioneer in the development of abstraction, drawing early inspiration from, among other sources, the Cubist paintings of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. Mondrian based his unique geometric style, which he termed “Neo-plasticism” on the utopian belief in the absolute harmony of straight lines and pure colors derived from the natural world. His basic vision was rooted in landscapes, and in particular, the flat topography of his native Holland.

At the outbreak of World War I, Mondrian was in Holland, where he found himself, in effect, trapped for the next four years. During that time, he returned to the subjects and themes of his early career, describing them in simple horizontal and vertical lines and colors. Although he continued to develop the abstract style he had begun in the years before the war, he also worked in a more representational style, which some of his patrons preferred. Farm at Duivendrecht (c. 1916) balances both of these approaches, merging naturalistic description with simplified forms and a reduced palette of pale lavender, orange, pink, and brown.