Mondrian & De Stijl

From Mondrian to Rietveld: a colourful movement

While many people imagine that De Stijl was cold and humourless, as if its art was made with a ruler on a drawing board, the exhibits in the special wing show that the opposite is true. Using vivid primary colours (red, yellow and blue), members of the movement produced vibrant works of art that are unconstrained and joyful, reflecting a vision of the future that was optimistic in the extreme. The displays include work not only by the movement’s founder Theo van Doesburg and by Piet Mondrian, but also by Vilmos Huszár, Bart van der Leck, J.J.P. Oud, Gerrit Rietveld, and others.

Senses on edge: Mondrian and De Stijl come to life

The exhibition Mondrian & De Stijl takes you along in the development of Piet Mondrian. Begin the journey with early, atmospheric landscapes around Amsterdam and Domburg. Join him in his quest for abstraction in Laren and Paris, where he increasingly distanced himself from reality. The end point of the journey is New York, where Mondrian discovers a new rhythm that leads to his last and most famous work, the Victory Boogie Woogie (1942-1944). An icon of modern art, this colourful masterpiece is the radiant centerpiece of the exhibition.

An indispensable part of Mondrian's development is his involvement with the De Stijl movement and their desire to radically renew art and design. They developed an abstract, geometric visual language that still influences how we live and design today. In the exhibition Mondrian & De Stijl, experience how this movement was born, grew and changed the world - with work by all the big names from this revolutionary period.