Composition in Brown and Gray

1912–1914

Move to Paris

In 1912 Mondrian moved to Paris, where the Cubism of Picasso and Braque showed in his work almost at once: “The Sea” (1912) and his studies of trees from that year still keep a measure of representation but are increasingly dominated by geometric shapes and interlocking planes.

1912–1917

The Cubist period

Mondrian was eager to absorb the influence of Cubism but saw it as a port of call on his artistic journey rather than a destination; his Cubist period lasted from 1912 to 1917.

1913

The final break with representation

In 1913 Mondrian began to fuse his art and his theosophical studies into a theory that signalled his final break from representational painting.

1914

The war catches Mondrian in the Netherlands

While Mondrian was visiting the Netherlands in 1914, the First World War began, forcing him to stay there for the duration of the conflict; in isolation he began to create his own visual language, with works such as “Composition 10 in Black and White” (1915).

1914–1918

The artists' colony at Laren

During the war Mondrian stayed at the Laren artists' colony, where he met Bart van der Leck and Theo van Doesburg, both of whom were pursuing their own journeys toward abstraction.

1915–1918

Founding De Stijl with Van Doesburg

With Theo van Doesburg Mondrian founded De Stijl, the journal of the De Stijl group, in which he first published essays defining his theory, which he called Neoplasticism.