Study for a Composition — Piet Mondrian

ABOUT THIS WORK

This small collage, "Study for a Composition," offers a rare glimpse into the meticulous process behind Piet Mondrian's abstract art. Though it may seem like a simple arrangement of lines and colored shapes, it is a crucial step in his quest for a new visual language. Mondrian, known for reducing the world to horizontal and vertical black lines enclosing fields of unmixed primary colors, worked tirelessly to achieve dynamic balance in his compositions. Here, you can see his direct engagement with how different elements interact. He used cut and pasted red and blue papers, a unique feature among his surviving studies, to experiment with their visual weight and placement. This work reveals his obsession with the density and location of every line and the precise size and position of each color field, aiming to create a transcendent experience for the viewer.

DETAILS

Artist: Piet Mondrian
Date: 1940
Medium: Collage of cut and pasted papers, prepared with gouache and charcoal, on pieced cream wove newsprint in three parts with charcoal on verso
Location: Art Institute of Chicago
Dimensions: Max: 33 × 27 cm (13 × 10 11/16 in.)
Collection: Prints and Drawings
Culture: Netherlands
Credit line: Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection

ART MOVEMENTS

Abstract art De Stijl Hard-edge painting Orphism Post-Impressionism Symbolism

LOOK CLOSER

What to Notice

Five details hide in plain sight. Pick one and we’ll show you exactly where to look.

← → step through · Esc to close

5 details are marked · pick a number

01

Two red rectangles

Two stacked red papers sit in the top left corner, split by a thin gap. Their saturated color makes that corner the heaviest part of the sheet.

1 of 5 on the painting

02

Folded blue paper

On the right, the blue patch is built from overlapping pieces, with a lighter flap along its right edge. It is the one cool, deep color on a sheet of warm tones.

2 of 5 on the painting

03

Small yellow bar

A small yellow strip sits low and off center. Even at this size it answers the red and blue higher up the sheet.

3 of 5 on the painting

04

Charcoal grid

Smudged, repeated charcoal lines cross the sheet. Several lines run close together, which suggests Mondrian was adjusting where each one should sit.

4 of 5 on the painting

05

Blue paint flaking

Just left of the blue paper, a ragged scrap of blue with streaky paint clings to the sheet. It looks like a torn remnant of a pasted piece.

5 of 5 on the painting

AUDIO DEEP DIVE

Stand in front of it and listen

The full narration walks you through Study for a Composition — the story behind it, the details most visitors miss, and why it matters. Free in the Art Whisper app.

Get the free app

0:00Preview · 0:30Free preview · 0:30 Hear the full story in the app

THE ARTIST

Piet Mondrian

1872–1944 · Kingdom of the Netherlands

Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian, was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He was one of the pioneers of 20th-century abstract art, as he changed his artistic direction from figurative painting to an increasingly abstract style, until he reached a point where his artistic vocabulary was taken down to simple geometric elements.

Read Mondrian’s full story