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 All About Art
Piet Mondrian And Abstract Art
published: March 2008
By Tamar Burris, Contributing Writer
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Piet Mondrian was a pioneer of abstract art. A Dutch painter, Piet developed a unique style he called "Neo-Plasticism," using only black lines and primary colors (red, blue, and yellow).
 Piet Mondrian was born in Amersfoot, the Netherlands, on March 7, 1872. Piet's father was a school principal, but he was also an amateur artist. When Piet showed a love for art as a boy, his father taught him how to draw. Piets uncle, too, was an artist, and he taught Piet the basics of painting. After studying with his father and uncle for several years, Piet eventually moved to Amsterdam to attend the official Dutch academy (the Rijksacademie) in 1892.
In Amsterdam, Piet won his first art prize in 1903 and incorporated more abstract ideas into his landscape paintings. Then, in 1912, Piet moved to Paris to study cubism, a style of abstract art that uses a lot of shapes. There, Piet became a well-known artist and experimented with new styles. He exhibited his work and earned money copying famous paintings in the museums. Although Piet loved Paris, he returned to the Netherlands in 1914 to see his sick father. And, because World War I started while Piet was in the Netherlands, he could not return to Paris for four years!
In the Netherlands, Piet became friends with other Dutch painters and changed his style again. Led by Piet, these artist friends explored the ideas of using grids of lines and blocks of color. Piet wrote articles for a magazine he started with his new friends, De Stijl, or New Style. And, when Piet finally returned to Paris in 1919, he published his articles in a book that described his new style, "Neo-Plasticism."
With World War II about to start, Piet fled Paris and moved to London in 1938. Two years later, he left London for New York City, where he exhibited and painted until his death on February 1, 1944. Although his paintings made little money during his lifetime, Piet was happy. People who loved art respected his work and he had lived his dream of being a
professional artist.
Written by Tamar Burris, a former elementary school teacher who now works as a freelance writer and curriculum developer for PBS, the Discovery Channel and other education-related companies. Sources: Guggenheim Collection: Piet Mondrian, www.
guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_112.html; Piet Mondrian: The Transatlantic Paintings, www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/mondrian. Artwork used under United States fair use copyright law to illustrate work of the subject for educational purposes.
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