red, blue and yellow - the past and present of "de stijl"

recognize this painting?


i'm sure i do, because i painted it on one of my bedroom walls...it's Piet Mondrian's "composition with red, blue and yellow"!

you'd think it that it's some guy who decided to paint a few lines and squares and decided to call it art. but no, Piet Mondrian's piece is part of a revolutionary movement in art called "de stijl" or "the style" in Dutch. it was a Dutch group of artists in the 1917-1931, which consisted of neoplastic artists like Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg (founder of de stijl).

the principles of de stijl are very simple...use only
1) straight horizontal or vertical lines
2) rectangle elements
3) primary colours of red, blue and yellow
4) primary values of black, white and gray

and...no
5) intersection of lines
6) symmetry

de stijl painters had ideals influenced by cubist art, in which they attempted to paint perfect lines and forms. de stijl is not limited to paintings, but extended its influences to music and architecture.

in music, Jakob van Domselaer was the composer who applied the de stijl principles of painting into his compositions. His compositions, such as Proeven van Stijlkunst ('Experiments in Artistic Style'), demonstrated minimalist and pure sounds of only "horizontal" and "vertical" elements. you'll get what i mean if you listen to this: http://www.dofoundation.com/dr001_GB.html.

architecture wise, there is the "Rietveld Schröder House" built by Dutch architect, Gerrit Rietveld, which was designed to have no walls!

in the picture, you see the "red and blue chair" also by Gerrit Rietveld that has no intersecting elements...

i saw a modern twist of the chair the other day (again at Gastown), but this time it is made of lego! it is called "106% red-blue rietveld chair" by Mario Minale, whose works call for a whole other blog entry for themselves. it is 6% larger than the original chair due to the nature of lego.

where you can visit the "Rietveld Schröder House": Prins Hendriklaan 50, Utrecht, The Netherlands

where you can get the "106% red-blue rietveld chair": INFORM Interiors @ Gastown

*interesting fact: "I paint modern" is an anagram of "Piet Mondrian" :)

- cup of red