Advertisement
Lecture by art historian Michel Didier about Mondrian and theosophy. Language: Dutch. The lecture is live and also via Zoom.Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) came from a strict Calvinist family. It perhaps explains his almost devout devotion to the ideal of perfect purity, harmony and austerity.
In 1908, Mondrian attended lectures by Rudolf Steiner for the Dutch Theosophical Society, which he joined a year later. Also in 1908, Mondrian began to incorporate theosophical ideas into a number of paintings. It proves to be a good tool to realise his pursuit of total spiritualisation, of purity. The idea that death and destruction are necessary for development ('becoming') from the material (matter) to the immaterial (spirit and soul) is depicted by Mondrian through flowers in developmental stages from the 'natural' to the 'pure' colour.
Very useful for his quest is the view that 'nature exists for no other purpose than the experience of the soul'. Nature is the revelation of the material and, according to the theosophical view, we are in the fourth, most material of the seven pulsations or 'rounds' in the life cycle of the planet; from here, the earth will become increasingly ethereal. In landscapes and flower still lifes, Mondrian thus strives to depict the universal 'Oneness', the dynamic balance of opposites and contrasts. To this end, he strips the sense-perceptible world of its 'substance', until only a non-figurative, 'pure' geometric form remains.
Symbolism proved a dead end, but in Paris, via Cubism, he eventually developed his New Image, the ultimate consequence of his pursuit of the unity of body, mind and soul.
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Embassy of the Free Mind, Keizersgracht 123,Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tickets