Composition with colour fields

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.

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

Growing close to Theo van Doesburg

In 1915 Mondrian grew close to the painter Theo van Doesburg, with whom he founded the De Stijl movement and the journal of the same name.

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.

1919–1920

The first grid paintings

From late 1919 Mondrian produced grid-based paintings, and in 1920 the style for which he became renowned began to appear: at first thin grey lines fading towards the edges of the canvas, with the forms filled with primary colours.

1919–1938

Return to Paris

In 1919 Mondrian left the Netherlands for Paris for the second and last time and at once turned to his studio: to hide its flaws he tacked large single-colour placards to the walls, accented by compositions of smaller coloured paper rectangles. From then on, periods of painting alternated with experiments in regrouping the papers on the walls.