Piet Mondrian

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The final stages

This pages examines the most significant works of the final period (1932-1942) in view of the last completed painting which sums up the whole of Mondrian’s oeuvre.

The tendency observed in the previous page toward a space of ever-greater rarefaction and synthesis:

gradually gives way to the opposite tendency, whereby an increasing level of articulation and complexity was progressively reintroduced into the Neoplastic canvases as from 1934:

Observation of the above four works in sequential order reveals a gradual increase in the number of lines, which divide the space of the canvas into a growing number of parts.

Composition B with Double Line, Yellow and Gray

This is the first Neoplastic composition with two horizontal lines running very close to one another in place of the single horizontal to be seen in all the previous works. The thickness of the two horizontal lines is half that of the vertical:

Like other compositions based on Layout C , Fig. 1 presents an area of square form closed on four sides in the lower right section. The square field expresses a moment of equilibrium between the opposing directions, which elsewhere give birth to variable proportions and then expand in a univocal and absolute way, that is, in exclusively horizontal or vertical terms, therefore suggesting a virtual infinite space which cancels out the synthesis of the opposite directions that is achieved by the square proportion.

The large yellow field in the upper left section and the gray one lower down to the right contribute to keep the square in a state of unstable equilibrium.

Composition in Black and White with Double Lines

This is a pattern already seen in a composition of 1925:

A relationship is established between a small square of sharply defined and definite size appearing in the center and a larger indefinite square placed in the lower section, which could almost be seen as the smaller one an instant after the lines have passed. The dynamism of the lines drags along the small central square, which opens up while remaining in unstable equilibrium between vertical (Fig. 2 Diagram A) and horizontal (Fig. 2 Diagram B) predominance. Different parts of a Neoplastic composition are to be seen as successive moments of one and the same space undergoing transformation.

Composition with Yellow

The two horizontal lines running through the central area of Fig. 2 become four in Fig. 3 which is again based on Layout C. In this case, however, the field inside the square form is no longer white but yellow and presents a vertical segment echoed by an external horizontal segment in the lower section:

Composition N. 12 with Blue

The idea of the square seems to be expressed here more as a process than a state. The solid and definite square of the 1920s now appears to undergo dilution on contact with the lines. The latter interact to expand and contract the space, above all in the central area, outside which they become entities in their own right; all horizontals or all verticals, one thing excluding the other and therefore eliminating any possible attempt to establish unity between the opposites.

One of a bright blue color appears as the fourth part of a larger form that recalls the square of the Layout C by virtue of the position it occupies.

I recall the compositions of 1919 in which all measurements and proportions varied on the basis of a constant module. There is no longer any prior control in 1937:

Composition N. 12 with Blue (Fig. 4) appears to offer a summary of all the compositions that Mondrian produced between 1930 and 1935 involving variations on the theme of the square:

In these compositions we see white and/or colored squares along with a variety of not always fully attained attempts to reach an equivalences of opposites, i.e. a square proportion. In this regard I recall Pier and Ocean 5. We now seem to see all these variable proportions brought together in Composition 12 with Blue (1937-42).

In the course of the 1930s we move from a sharply defined square (Fig. 1) placed in a state of dynamic equilibrium between two opposite rectangles (Fig. 2) to a square module in a state of becoming that has undergone total interpenetration with the lines and is expressed as a continuing variation of itself (Fig. 4):

Observation of the three works in sequential order reveals how the “white line” running through the center of Fig. 1 leads through Fig. 2 to the multiplicity of Fig. 4.

It appears to be a short step from Composition N. 12 with Blue to New York City:

In actual fact, however, the process of spatial multiplication was not completed so quickly. It was a laborious undertaking that took seven years of patient effort and a far larger number of works. Mondrian produced no fewer than sixty-five canvases between 1932 and 1942, some of which were reworked in New York City after 1942 while about a dozen were left unfinished. While aiming at increasing the elements forming these new compositions, the artist adopted several solutions leading ultimately to the same result which is to evoke on a bi-dimensional space the infinite multiplicity of the world considered as a unity and, at the same time, consider every single thing as an endless complexity of parts.

Mondrian: “The one seems to us to be only one, but is in actual fact also a duality. Each thing again displays the whole on a small scale. The microcosm is equal as composition to the macrocosm, according to the wise. We therefore have only to consider everything in itself, the one as a complex. Conversely, every element of a complex is to be seen as a part of a whole. Then we will always see the relationship; then we can always know the one through the other.“

During this phase we see the opening and multiplication of unity in all the works produced between 1932 and 1942, but the progress achieved was very slow. There were phases of uncertainty with works begun but never completed or taken up later and altered.

Neoplasticism evolves through new works

The evolution of Neoplasticism toward articulation and complexity continues with new compositions Mondrian works at between 1934 and 1942. These can be grouped into three basic sets.

We have just examined the first set of works which shows a multiplication and diversification of the square into a variety of slightly more horizontal or vertical proportion which are in some cases highlighted by colors:

We shall now examine a second set of works which presents a square form interpenetrating with a vertical field that runs through the whole composition from the bottom to the top. The vertical field seems to originate from the double vertical lines of the first composition shown below:

The third set of works reveals the need to maintain the visibility of a large square generated by the combination of various proportions that interact with one another to evoke moments of equilibrium inside a space that changes constantly in appearance:

The common denominator of all these new works is to interpenetrate the equivalence of opposites (the square) with the dynamic and ever-changing flow of the lines.

Let us observe some of these works.

Composition Blanc et Rouge B

The smaller approximate square (Diagram A – Area 1) seems to turn into the larger one (Diagram B), as though the two forms were successive moments in the transition of the same entity from a state of comparative stability and certainty (the small compact square) to a dynamic condition of less stability and multiplicity (the large manifold square).

Composition in White, Black and Red

The lines work in fact to divide the space of the canvas into four main areas of different proportions. Only one of these, underscored by a red plane, is closed on four sides and approaches the proportions of a square. This square is larger than what is normally seen in the compositional Layout C.

While the homogeneous square field of Fig. 5 opens up to a vertical segment in Fig. 3, it increases in size and opens up to three horizontal segments that divide its inner field and make it less stable in Fig. 7. The central segment is wholly included in the square form while the other two extend outside toward the right. A black accent in the upper left section counterbalances the weight of the segments and the red plane.

Composition N. 4 with Red and Blue

Fig. 7 was produced in 1936 and Fig. 8 in 1938, implemented with some color accents in 1942.

Comparing the two compositions, it seems to see the square area in Fig. 7 extending upward in Fig. 8.

The large square of Fig. 7 thus becomes a dynamic vertical sequence in Fig. 8 where the vertical field is marked by horizontal segments that generate a series of rectangles, one of which is red. By combining these rectangles, we can glimpse square forms taking shape, merging with red and then dissolving toward the top.

Composition N. 1 with Red

The marked presence of vertical lines on the right prompts a vertical reading of the horizontal sections inside the large vertical field in the center left. On observing these sections, we note that their vertical component gradually decreases little by little as we move up from the bottom toward the central horizontal line which is the only uninterrupted horizontal line present in this work. The other horizontals are in fact three segments set between the vertical lines and two in the lower and upper part that continue outside to the right and left respectively.

Reading from the bottom toward the center of the canvas, we thus see a decrease in the vertical component of each horizontal rectangular section. A vertical/horizontal area becomes almost entirely horizontal (Diagram A + B). During this process it is possible to intuit a square form (Diagram A).
The horizontal rectangles contract in the center to assume the proportions of a very narrow white plane (Diagram B) that has practically the same thickness as the underlying horizontal segment and the continuous horizontal line above it which define the narrow white plane which has, in fact, the appearance of a white linear segment. Planes and lines (finite space and infinite space) as well as black and white are equivalent in this area.

While space becomes almost exclusively horizontal, proceeding from the bottom edge toward the center, the vertical component shows an increase as we move from the center towards the upper part of the canvas (Diagram C).

I believe it is no coincidence that we see an equivalence of opposite values generated in the center of the canvas. Six years earlier Lozenge with Yellow Lines shows an increase in the thickness of the lines that seemed to suggest their evolution toward potential planes while, in terms of color, yellow was used as an intermediate value between black and white.

Observe the contrast between the only horizontal line and the black segment beneath it. The latter appears slightly thicker as though the loss of extension of the continuous horizontal line was transformed into an increase in thickness of the segment below:

Trafalgar Square

It should be borne in mind, however, that the composition was drafted in 1939 and the small accents of color present in the lower and right sections were added in 1942-43. The additions strike me as no improvement and indeed as spurious interference with the initial composition.

Mondrian named some works from this latter period after squares in cities where he had lived: London with Trafalgar Square, in another case Paris with a canvas named Place de la Concorde and finally New York City with the name of an avenue Broadway Boogie Woogie. Unfortunately, these titles have produced misleading interpretations.

As mentioned, during this period Mondrian worked at some paintings which again present a large square generated in the central area of the composition:

Let us examine these works:

Composition des Lignes e Couleur III

We again see here a vertical field that proceeds from the bottom through the central area of the composition to the top (Fig. 11 Diagram A). The vertical field is counterbalanced by a horizontal field in the upper area (Fig. 11 Diagram B).
The intersection of the two opposite fields generate an area close to a square (Fig. 11 Diagram C):

The small blue plane concentrates the space toward the lower right section and draws attention to a larger form which suggests for an instant a large square field (Fig. 11 Diagram D). The central approximate square (Diagram C) shows a slight horizontal expansion while the large square (Diagram D) a slightly vertical predominace. Between the two we perceive a square that oscillates between horizontal and vertical prevalences, i.e., a dynamic equivalence of opposites before overbalancing in one direction or the other.

Lozenge Composition with Eight Lines and Red

Compared with the earlier lozenge compositions, the probable square of Fig. 12 consists of a larger and diversified number of parts. Another way to open up unity to multiplicity.

New York Boogie Woogie

Fig. 14 Diagram A shows a horizontal proportion formed by black lines while Diagram B highlights a slightly vertical area formed by red lines. In Diagram C, the opposite directions approach equivalence, which is reached in Diagram D:

The composition shows probable equivalences in which one direction or the other shows a slight predominance without either coming to prevail completely and establishing a permanent condition. Everything reverts to the construction and deconstruction of unitary syntheses of the opposing directions, which are of two colors in this case.

The accents of color that the artist must have added in 1942 (above all the small planes in the lower section) do not alter the composition significantly. They add “verticality” in an area that would otherwise be dominated by horizontals but serve above all to enrich the composition with color.

Traveling along the lines, the space opens up and then concentrates in the form of more stable relations that are then challenged again.
Here too, everything changes while something “between the lines” evokes a sense of greater equilibrium.

Summarizing the above

Let us now summarize the evolution of Neoplasticism during the 1930s.

We have seen some works where the square opens up and multiplies over the whole composition by continuously changing the relationship between the opposite directions:

while other works show a square in progress appearing and disappearing within a dynamic vertical field:

and other works reveal the need to maintain the visibility of a large square:

We shall find these three different types merged in one canvas – New York City (Fig. 15).

Let us for a moment see why this one painting can be considered a synthesis of the above mentioned works. In the next page we will examine Fig. 15 in depth.

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