Artwork
Composition
Composition is an oil painting by the De Stijl artist Piet Mondrian. It dates from 1921 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
Piet Mondrian's 1921 work Composition is executed in oil paint on canvas, measuring 49.
Piet Mondrian's 1921 work Composition is executed in oil paint on canvas, measuring 49.5 cm by 49.5 cm. The surface bears the characteristic grid of black lines enclosing rectangles of primary color, reflecting Mondrian's mature abstraction and pursuit of pure plastic order. The painting was originally owned by Jacques Gelman and later entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it has been displayed as part of exhibitions of twentieth‑century modern masters.
History & Provenance
The work was created by Piet Mondrian in 1921 as an oil paint painting. It entered the collection of Jacques Gelman and was subsequently acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, appearing in the exhibition Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection.
Composition, painted by Piet Mondrian in 1921, is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work entered the museum's holdings through the Sidney Janis Gallery and carries the accession number 1999.363.57. Previously, the painting was owned by Jacques Gelman.
The artwork has been featured in the exhibition Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, which showcased pieces from the Gelman holdings.
Context
The painting's reception and scholarly interpretation have been situated within Mondrian's mature abstraction and the broader narrative of early 20th-century modernism. It was part of Jacques Gelman's collection and featured in the exhibition Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, underscoring its significance within the artist's oeuvre and mid-century discourse on abstraction.
Scholarship has engaged with the work as a culmination of Mondrian's development of neoplasticism, particularly in its strict adherence to geometric purity and balance. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's holding of the piece, acquired through the Gelman collection, has facilitated its frequent inclusion in canonical surveys of modern art, reinforcing its status as a representative example of the movement's theoretical and formal achievements.
Overview
Created in 1921, Composition is an oil painting by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. The work exemplifies his shift toward pure abstraction, employing a network of black lines that separate colored rectangles. It is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection and represents a key example of the De Stijl movement’s visual language.
Subject & Meaning
The canvas is organized into a grid of rectangular planes filled with primary and secondary hues, orange, blue, and gray, intersected by stark black outlines. The arrangement seeks equilibrium through the balanced distribution of color and form, reflecting Mondrian’s aim to express universal harmony through simplified visual elements.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (Dutch:; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, US also; Dutch: ), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician, who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.
