Mondrian's Shift to Cubism

In 1911, Piet Mondrian moved from the Netherlands, his home country, to Paris, France. It was in Paris that Mondrian was introduced to cubism by observing the works of fellow painters Picasso and Braque. Before moving to Paris, most of his work was naturalistic or impressionistic, consisting largely of landscapes. He would paint windmills, fields, and rivers with his own personal touch to depictions, creating his own style.

While skimming through my humanities book, my eyes stopped upon Tree by Piet Mondrian. Much different from his earlier work, yet still having the feel of nature, The Grey Tree introduces cubism through the geometric shapes you see in the painting. You can make out rectangles and ovals scattered throughout the branches and around the base of the tree.

What drew my attention to this painting were the swift brush strokes fusing together to create geometric shapes. At first glance, you can tell that Mondrian’s painting is a tree (there is no second-guessing by the audience as to what the artist was trying to depict). You see branches splitting and weaving into the open space starting at the trunk. With Piet’s strong, expressive brush strokes, the branches almost look like veins and arteries, connecting to the trunk as if connecting to a heart.

Mondrian's Tree serves as a transition between his two periods of works. He later on grabbed cubism by the horns and painted his most widely recognized piece, Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow, in 1921.

In this painting, you can witness how much different this piece is from his previous works. There are no brush strokes evident, almost as if Mondrian was trying to disguise the fact that he even used a paintbrush. In this painting, there are just lines, rectangles, and basic colors/shades. Mondrian had officially transitioned from naturalism and impressionism to cubism.