Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) was a painter best known for his later abstract paintings which consisted only of straight lines (parallel or perpendicular to each other) and color. The shapes defined by the lines and color were always rectangular. He also developed a view of plastic art which he advocated in various articles. He even wrote rather interesting dialogues.
By modern art I mean art which manifests the values of modernity. Purists might argue that the phrase is an oxymoron in that once modernity is fully manifested there will be no art. But the reality is that during the transition to modernity there will continue to be art. And some (possibly most) art will be antithetical to modernity and other art will be more consistent with it.
Mondrian's later paintings (roughly 1920 on) are Modern Art (as defined above) at its best. Of special note is the exclusion of the natural. Nothing natural is represented: no people, animals, plants or even rocks. The lines are all straight lines which do not occur in nature. And the color green, the color most associated with nature, is absent.
© Copyright 2002 George Woolley
The java animation near the top of this page is by Eugene El Terrible.