Theo Van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian

Theo Van Doesburg was a Dutch artist who was initially influenced by Van Gogh – later on he was influenced by Kandinsky. Wassily Kandinsky’s book discussed the importance of drawing from one’s imagination. From what I understood, I believe he said that using your mind created a much more engaging composition. There was a spiritual connection, with more depth to it than a painting that consists of familiar objects – he believed that abstraction was the rational solution.

Van Doesburg had travelled to Germany to influence Gropius, the Bauhaus director. When Gropius did not accept him into the Bauhaus, Van Doesburg had decided to place his studio near the Bauhaus. This decision attracted school students which led to the promotion of his movement.

Piet Mondrian created an aesthetic language to go beyond natural form but towards abstraction, which has still remained in todays culture.

Van Doesburg came across Piet Mondrian’s works and realised that they shared the same artistic beliefs, an abstract reality – eventually they became the founders of De Stijl. These two artists however were completely opposites of one another – Van Doesburg was ostentatious and confident while Mondrian was an introvert. Their ideas of style clashed with another which ended their long-term friendship. This disagreement was said to be about the incorporation of diagonal lines in the De Stijl style. Mondrian did not agree with Van Doesburg’s ideas so therefore both artists created a style which rivalled each other.

I copied from Mondrian's 'Broken Urn' and created this painting

Elementarism was created becaue Van Doesburg felt it brought much more dynamism with the use of diagonal lines which he felt reflected the human spirit.

Mondrian’s Neo - Plasticism did not have diagonal lines, only horizontal and vertical lines. While only the three primary colours could be applied into the squares and rectangles. His aim was to reject natural art and only use form and colours.