PICTURE NO. III 1938

Here we have Piet Mondrian’s ‘PICTURE NO. III’, an oil on canvas piece, its exact creation date remains unknown. Mondrian, a Dutch artist, was deeply embedded in the early 20th century’s shift towards abstraction, a move away from representational art. Mondrian sought a universal aesthetic language, and his abstraction was a means to express, what he called, "pure reality." What does it mean to suggest that abstraction can reveal 'pure reality'? Note how the geometric forms and primary colors seek to eliminate the personal or subjective. In a world increasingly defined by industrialization and mass production, artists like Mondrian attempted to construct an objective visual language. But how does such a desire for objectivity intersect with the artist's identity, his cultural background, and his own personal experiences? The simplicity of Mondrian's visual language allows for a potent space where the universal meets the individual.