Piet Mondrian. Pier and ocean, (1914).

Piet Mondrian
Pier and ocean, (1914)
Colored gouache and ink on paper
19 3/4 x 24 3/4 in. (50.2 x 62.9 cm)
Acquired 1948 from Charmion von Wiegand
(L01264-70)

The following is an excerpt from: Miller Company Collection of Abstract Art. (1948). Painting toward architecture, p. 78. [Essay by Henry-Russell Hitchcock; foreword by Alfred H. Barr, Jr.; introduction by Burton Tremaine; acknowledgements by Emily Hall Tremaine, art director; certain artwork entries by Mary Chalmers Rathbun; graphic design by Bradbury Thompson].

"Mondrian’s work represents a lifelong search for what he felt lay at the heart of reality. Although influenced early in his career by the cubists, he came to realize that his own search must be carried out in a purer and more austere way. He believed that statements about the nature of reality must be made, not in terms of particular appearances and subjective feelings, but in terms of fundamental truth. In developing this philosophy in his painting he reduced his repertory of form to the intersection of short lines at right angles. This he considered to be the most basic attainable relationship."

"As his style matured in the 1920s the lines were continued across the canvas... Yet these rigid black lines were subtly contrasted in width so that they were plastic entities in themselves and not mere boundaries of the fields they enclosed. He used only the stable primary colors from which the transitory shades and hues we see in nature are combined. Space, as represented by the areas of white pigment on the canvas, because another kind of form, held in dynamic balance with the areas of color. The precise placing of the boundaries between these spaces and forms, between a red area and a blue, even between white and white, establishes the equilibrium. Mondrian’s relationships seem to achieve a new proportionality, based not on mathematical formulas and static balance, but on intuitional judgment and dynamic tension." (Mary Chalmers Rathbun)

Piet Mondrian’s Pier and ocean has been owned by Stephen Mazoh & Co. Inc. since 1995. (Click to see a photo of the artwork.)

To learn more about Piet Mondrian’s Pier and ocean since 1948, click the link(s) to articles and exhibition compilations with documentation below.

Photo by Louise Lawler showing Piet Mondrian’s Pier and ocean:

> Louise Lawler. Bedroom with fireplace, arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Burton Tremaine Sr., New York City, (1984 / 1989).