Piet Mondriaan
Composition no II
1929
Modern art
Mondriaan began as a painter of landscapes in muted tones. His mature style comprised compositions of black horizontal and vertical lines and blocks of white, grey and the primary colours: red, yellow and blue. The absolute harmony he sought reached beyond art alone. He wrote: 'Art is only a substitute as long as the beauty of life is deficient. It will disappear in proportion as life gains an equilibrium.'
