MondrianDe Stijl

With the exception of the Bauhaus, there is most likely no other art movement of the first half of the twentieth century that has had such an influence on our everyday lives as the De Stijl group around Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg. Mondrian, alongside Wassily Kandinsky and Kasimir Malevich one of abstract painting’s founding fathers, created strictly geometrical paintings that today are icons of modernism. Their characteristic structure with fields of primary colors framed in black has long assumed a life of its own in art, fashion, advertising, and popular culture. One focus of the publication is Mondrian’s development toward abstraction—from his early works in the circle of the Neo-Impressionist luminists to his neoplasticist period. A second focus is De Stijl’s interdisciplinary approach, which will be demonstrated based on period furniture, clothing, and architectural drawings and models.   Exhibition schedule: Kunstbau, Lenbachhaus, Munich April 16–September 4, 2011