Piet mondrian gray tree biography of christopher

Although four years elapsed between the Red Tree and The Gray Treeit would be a mistake not to see them like two links in a single chain of development. Actually, there are a few additional links in the chain connecting the luminist version ofwith its bold red and blue, and the cubist one ofin which color has receded almost completely, and form and rhythm dominates.

These additional links date from Mondrian's Zeeland period and comprise a number of little works that reached a highpoint in the Blue Treeprobably created inthe same year in which other motifs - dunes, mills, church facades - similarly acquired a character of their own. For centuries, European painters had attempted to render three-dimensional forms in believable spaces - creating convincing illusions of reality.

See for an example - The Night Watch by Rembrandt. In contrast, Mondrian and other modernists wanted to move painting beyond naturalistic depiction to focus instead on the material properties of paint and its unique ability to express ideas abstractly using formal elements such as line and color. His project was to transform the thing that he saw in front of him into a rhythmic sign on his sheet of paper.

During the expressionist period, Mondrian's eye addressed the objects and situations of the external world but pulsated with a wholly internal rhythm. While horizontal extension predominates in the landscapes and vertical development in the buildings, the two opposing directions interpenetrate in the figure of a single tree which is another recurrent motif of this period.

What the artist sees in the figure of a tree is a vertical the trunk interacting with horizontals the branches. In other words, he sees a synthesis between the canvases in which the horizontal extension of the natural landscape equivalent to the branches predominates and those that represent a vertical architectural volume equivalent to the trunk.

The branches expand toward the sides of the canvas while the trunk leads them back toward the center. Space simultaneously expands the infinite natural landscape and contracts the finite artificial objects created by man in the figure of the tree. Second, from the center to the rightmost edge of the frame we encounter a smoother more modulated approach to solidifying the air volumes.

This method allows the stokes to follow the movement of the black lines or "branches" in a semi-dark shade while also using light patches of color to highlight small volumes. This might also indicate a different light condition, one that is filtered through elements such as leaves or the branches themselves as it emanates from left to right. Lastly, when portraying the volume of the central dark element or "trunk" there are differences in shape that are attempted to be recorded through the use of lighter shades.

These might serve as a transition between the conditions in the left and right of the painting, providing a visual connection across the central element and enriching the interpretation of how the volumes of air move around the tree. Assignment: Build up the given image in your considered fragments.

Piet mondrian gray tree biography of christopher

With at least 8 layers, build up the image working from foreground to background. Decide which elements, and proportions of the spaces are in front or behind one another. What sort of depths are at play? Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item.