english o |
best viewed on desk- or laptops |

Piet Mondrian's lifetime work has been an evolution process which has radically transformed the way painting represents reality.
From images that reproduce the outward appearance of the world, to which we are accustomed, to compositions of lines and planes of color,
a space that no longer seems to have anything in common with our immediate perception of reality.
One of the aims of this pages is to explain the reasons for this evolution by showing how to read and interpret abstract painting
in relation
to everyday life and the universal themes of the human condition.
FROM FIGURATION TO ABSTRACTION |
![]() |
A synthesis of the transition from a partial to an exhaustive representation of reality. See this page |
AN OVERVIEW |
![]() |
An overview of Mondrian's entire oeuvre focusing on the most significant works. See this page |
A DETAILED EXAMINATION |
![]() |
The following pages present an in-depth examination of Mondrian's oeuvre from the first naturalistic works up to the last two abstract compositions Broadway Boogie Woogie and Victory Boogie Woogie which represent a marvelous syntehsis of the artist's new vision of reality. While the entire oeuvre constitutes a unified process with no breaks in continuity, it can be divided into seven periods for explanatory purposes: |
1893 - 1906 Naturalism See this page
1907 - 1911 Expressionism and Symbolism See this page
1911 - 1915 Cubism See page
1916 - 1920 From Cubism to Neoplasticism See this page
1921 - 1933 Neoplasticism See this page
1933 - 1940 Neoplasticism See this page
1940 - 1944 Neoplasticism See this page
1899 - 1944 Summary See this page
EXAMINATION OF INDIVIDUAL PAINTINGS
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
iEvolution 1911 |
iPier and Ocean 4 1914 |
iCheckerboards with Light |
iLozenge with Four |
Broadway Boogie Woogie, 1942-43 |
RAFFAELLO SANZIO AND PIET MONDRIAN
![]() |
La Disputa del Sacramento (1508) - Broadway Boogie Woogie (1943) See this page |
![]() |
La Disputa del Sacramento (1508) - La Scuola di Atene (1510) - Broadway Boogie Woogie (1943) See this page |
THE AUTHOR OF THESE PAGES
Michael Sciam is an artist and art theorist. Some of his works can be seen here.
Sciam has studied architecture and art history at the university in Rome while painting had been always present in his life and gained momentum when he decided to grant his inner vision with freer ways of expression. Although he is not an art critic, Sciam writes about painting
believing in a didactic and social function of art. He seeks to show the wealth of existential content that makes abstract painting a tool capable of contributing both to our understanding of today's world and to the development of tomorrow's. This is what Sciam says about his studies on Mondrian.
COPYRIGHT 1989-2023 MICHAEL (MICHELE) SCIAM - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED See this page