Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray1921
Piet Mondrian, a founding member of the international movement De Stijl (the Style), said “the straight line tells the truth.” More about this work
About this work
Piet Mondrian, a founding member of the international movement De Stijl (the Style), said “the straight line tells the truth.” Deceptively simple, his works are the result of continual tinkering to achieve absolute balance and harmony. In this work, Mondrian rotated a square canvas 90 degrees to create a dynamic relationship between the rectilinear composition and the diagonal lines of the painting's edges.
Text from the Art Institute of Chicago.
What you’re looking at
A square white tile, rotated 90 degrees, crossed by black lines intersecting at 90-degree angles. A few of the shapes thus formed—some partial squares, some rectangles—are colored in a single shade of yellow, blue, black, or red.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1957.307
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- Modern Art
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
