Composition with Blue 1922

This is Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Blue, made at some point, using oil on canvas. The thing about Mondrian is the way that he makes the simple look monumental, like he’s literally building something. He's using a reductive approach and basic palette to create something that is clean and pure in its aesthetic. The way the paint sits on the canvas is very flat and very intentional. There’s something so methodical about the way the black lines are carefully placed, creating a grid that holds the composition together. And then there’s that small square of red down in the corner, grounding the whole thing. It’s almost like a full stop, or a little spark of energy. Looking at Mondrian, I always think of Agnes Martin. They both share a similar interest in abstraction, but where Mondrian is all about geometry and order, Agnes is more about the subtle nuances of colour and texture. For both though, it’s about paring things down to their essence.