Who Was Piet Mondrian?
Piet Mondrian was a Dutch artist who created one of the most recognizable styles in all of art history. His paintings are so famous that even people who have never been to an art museum have probably seen his style on clothing, bags, phone cases, and building designs.
Mondrian's most famous paintings look like grids — thick black lines crossing the canvas horizontally and vertically, creating rectangles of different sizes. Some rectangles are filled with bright red, blue, or yellow. Others are left white.
That is it! Just black lines, white space, and blocks of primary colors. It sounds simple, but Mondrian spent YEARS figuring out exactly where to place each line and each color block. He would stare at his paintings for weeks, moving a line just a tiny bit to the left or making a rectangle slightly bigger.
Mondrian believed that art should show pure harmony and balance. He stripped away everything except the most basic elements: straight lines, right angles, and primary colors. He thought this was the purest, most universal form of beauty.
His art has inspired architects, fashion designers, furniture makers, and graphic designers around the world. The Mondrian look is everywhere!