Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944)
Sleutelbloem/Primrose
1915 | Pencil on paper | 28 x 18 cm (41 x 32 cm)
Mondrian tried to reduce the subject to a construction of horizontal and vertical lines. This process led to the paintings that characterise him: geometric structure, white background, planes of primary colours, rings of black lines, etc.
It is often overlooked that Mondrian painted and drew flowers for most of his life. There are said to be more than two hundred of them. "I enjoyed painting flowers not bouquets, but a single flower at a time, in order that I might better express its plastic structure," he wrote in 1942. The closed form of the flower interested him in contrast to the open forms of landscapes. He treats it in a frontal manner, without emotional content. These flowers contradict Mondrian's alleged antipathy towards vegetation.
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