Piet Mondrian

Visual Arts Dutch 1872 – 1944 59 quotes

A Dutch painter and art theoretician, he is regarded as one of the pioneers of 20th-century abstract art, known for his grid-based paintings with primary colors.

Quotes by Piet Mondrian

The new art is not a search for a new style, but for a new vision.

De Stijl 1917

Art is not a reproduction of reality; it is a creation of a new reality.

De Stijl 1919

The truly modern artist is not concerned with the representation of objects, but with the expression of pure plastic relationships.

Neo-Plasticism in Pictorial Art 1920

To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual.

De Stijl 1917

The emotion of beauty is always obscured by the appearance of the object. Therefore, the object must be eliminated from the picture.

De Stijl 1917

Art is higher than reality and has no direct relation to reality. To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual.

De Stijl 1917

The new plastic idea will ignore the particulars of appearance, that is to say, natural form and colour. On the contrary, it should find its expression in the abstraction of form and colour, that is to say, in the straight line and the clearly defined primary colour.

De Stijl 1917

The square is a perfect form. It is a symbol of balance and harmony.

Letter to Theo van Doesburg 1921

The pure plastic form (which is geometrically constructed) is the expression of the pure plastic feeling, and the pure plastic feeling is the expression of pure reality.

Neo-Plasticism in Pictorial Art 1917

Art is higher than reality and has no direct relation to reality. It has no immediate relation to life: it is a continuous relation.

Essay 1920

The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.

Interview 1930

The rhythm of vertical and horizontal lines, and the positive and negative planes into which space is divided, are the only elements that can be used to express universal beauty.

De Stijl Manifesto 1921

I wish to approach truth as closely as is possible, and therefore the art of suggestion is to me the greatest art.

Letter 1914

The artist sees differently from other people, and the light that falls on his eyes is different.

Personal reflection 1925

Abstract art is not the creation of another reality but the true creation of reality.

Speech 1932

Nonfiguration is not the negation of form, but the pure expression of form.

Essay 1918

The universal is expressed in the particular.

Writing 1920

Reality is the expression of the universal in the particular.

Neo-Plasticism 1919

The wall is the screen on which the drama of life is projected.

Interview 1930

Color is harmony. It is the inner being of light, of life.

Essay 1922