Master of geometric abstraction, creator of the red-yellow-blue grid
A Dutch painter, one of the founders of geometric abstract art. Step by step he simplified trees, sea, and houses until only white grids cut by horizontal and vertical black lines remained, filled with pure red, yellow, and blue. He believed that only by stripping away every concrete image could one touch the most essential harmony and order behind the world. His red-yellow-blue grid later seeped into every corner of architecture, fashion, and design.
Mondrian painted a series of trees in his early years: from realistic branches, abstracted step by step into crisscrossing lines, until even the "tree" vanished and only rhythm and structure remained. It was not that he could not paint a tree, but that he wanted to pass through the tree’s appearance to grasp the pure geometric order that upholds all things.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.