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Amsterdam Skyline Viewed from the West

A work made of watercolor, gouache, and fabricated black chalk, with erasures, on cream wove paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of watercolor, gouache, and fabricated black chalk, with erasures, on cream wove paper.

Date:

c. 1899

Artist:

Piet Mondrian
Dutch, 1872–1944

About this artwork

It is difficult to know precisely when Mondrian made this lyrical landscape. Even after he began to create his better-known abstract work, he still made more salable scenes in order to support himself. Since it bears stylistic similarities to his late-19th-century work, the watercolor probably predates 1900. The Amsterdam skyline appears from the west, as it does often in his pictures from that time. Although the scene is filled with lifelike details, Mondrian seemed to have delighted in the rhythmic placement of the trees. As they reach to the upper edge of the sheet, their reflections extend across the water, punctuated intermittently by coppiced stumps.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Piet Mondrian

Title

Amsterdam Skyline Viewed from the West

Place

Netherlands (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1894–1904

Medium

Watercolor, gouache, and fabricated black chalk, with erasures, on cream wove paper

Inscriptions

Signed recto, lower right, in black crayon: "PIET MONDRIAAN"

Dimensions

39.9 × 58.8 cm (15 3/4 × 23 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection

Reference Number

2013.983

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/186314/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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