Composition with Grid IX 1919

This is Piet Mondrian's "Composition with Grid IX," made with oil on canvas. I love seeing how Mondrian works through process. Here we have this wonderful, almost pastel, grid of colors, each contained within a strict, regimented set of lines. But it's so much more subtle than that, isn't it? Look how thin the paint is, almost like watercolor in places, with the texture of the canvas just barely peeking through. And notice the way the colors interact; that soft pink square sitting next to a cool blue one, and how they almost seem to vibrate against each other. Think about someone like Agnes Martin, who worked with similar grids, but whose touch was so much more subtle and ethereal. With Mondrian, it's like he's building something solid, brick by brick, even as he's inviting us to question what those bricks are made of. It's painting as architecture, or maybe architecture as painting. Whatever it is, it's beautiful.