Fondation Beyeler devotes an exhibition to Piet Mondrian, from early to more mature works

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Piet Mondrian (Amersfoort, 1872 - New York, 1944), the Fondation Beyeler in Basel is devoting an exhibition to the Dutch painter that brings together works in the permanent collection and major international loans. Mondrian contributed greatly to the artistic evolutionary process that led from figuration to abstraction: indeed, he is like the founder of Neoplasticism.

The exhibition Mondrian Evolution, this is the title of the show that can be visited from June 5 to Oct. 9, 2022, displays 89 works from public and private European and American collections with the intention of highlighting the transformation of Mondrian, who went from being a late 19th-century landscape painter to becoming an undisputed protagonist of the 20th-century avant-garde. The exhibition also offers a rare opportunity to rediscover and learn about the Dutch master who had so much influence not only on modern art but also on other areas such as design, architecture, fashion and pop culture.

While Fondation Beyeler’s collection focuses mainly on the later period of the artist’s career, this exhibition aims to highlight Mondrian’s stylistic development from his early works. While his early works were influenced by Dutch landscape painting of the late 19th century, it was also Symbolism and Cubism that offered fertile ground for the artist’s choices. Only from the early 1920s did Mondrian focus on a totally nonobjective expressive language, limiting himself to arranging at right angles black lines and backgrounds in white or in the three primary colors blue, red and yellow.

The exhibition is divided chronologically but comes to life primarily by comparing early and more mature works, allowing the visitor to get a comprehensive overview of Mondrian’s artistic journey. Mondrian Evolution addresses the artist’s recurring motifs including windmills, dunes, the sea, farms reflected in bodies of water and plants rendered in different modes of abstraction.

With seven paintings, the Fondation Beyeler boasts the largest public collection of Mondrian’s works in Switzerland. This is the first time in its history that the museum has dedicated a monographic exhibition to the artist. In preparation for the exhibition, the Piet Mondrian Conservation Project was launched in 2019 with the aim of investigating Mondrian’s painting technique through works in the permanent collection. Thanks to the support of La Prairie, the four classic late works were the subject of study and analysis.

The exhibition is curated by Ulf Küster, Kathrin Beßen and Susanne Meyer-Büser and is organized by Fondation Beyeler and Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, in collaboration with Kunstmuseum Den Haag.

For more info: www.fondationbeyeler.ch

Hours: Daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Wednesday until 8 p.m.

Image: Piet Mondrian, Soirée: L’arbre rouge (1908-1910; oil on canvas, 70 x 99 cm; Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague © 2022 Mondrian/Holtzman Trust. Photo: Kunstmuseum Den Haag.

Fondation Beyeler devotes an exhibition to Piet Mondrian, from early to more mature works

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