Piet Mondrian
1872-1944 · Dutch (Amersfoort; worked in Paris/New York) · De Stijl / Abstract Art
Known for: Pioneer of geometric abstraction who reduced art to primary colors, black lines, and right angles
Mondrian reduced painting to its absolute essentials - horizontal and vertical lines, primary colors, black, and white. His grid paintings became icons of modern art. He broke with a friend over diagonal lines (seriously).
He fled Europe twice, ending in New York where jazz electrified his final Boogie-Woogie paintings. He was an ascetic perfectionist who lived in immaculately ordered white studios.
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