Farm Sun 1904

Piet Mondrian made this watercolor painting of a farm, probably somewhere in the Netherlands. It feels like a landscape remembered, seen through a veil of feeling. The colors are muted, like faded photographs. Was it a wet day? I wonder if he stood under an umbrella to make this painting! Look how the brushstrokes build up the thatched roof, the way the colors blend and bleed together. There is a fluidity and softness that is both familiar and strange. It makes me want to go back in time and sit with Piet as he painted. I can almost feel the damp air on my skin. You can really see his early style here, before he pared everything down to those grids of black lines and blocks of primary color. It reminds me that even the most radical artists start somewhere, often drawing on the world around them. And it makes me think about how we all carry our pasts with us, even as we move forward.