Piet Mondrian began his career painting realistic landscapes but later simplified his style to focus on the relationships between color and line. He used only the primary colors of red, yellow and blue, along with black, white and gray. Mondrian arranged horizontal and vertical lines in his paintings in different configurations, adjusting the thickness, spacing and placement of the lines to achieve balance.

1. Piet Mondrian Adapted From Presentations Created by Rock Ledge Elementary Fine Art Program, Seymour, WI
Original Source: http://www.seymour.k12.wi.us/rle/art/grade_level_units.html

2. Piet Mondrian began as an artist by
painting realistic landscapes.

3. •Then Piet changed the
way he painted.
•He didn’t want his
pictures to look like
nature.
•He wanted to explore
how color and line
worked together.

4. •Over time, Piet’s
work became more
simple.
•Piet did not use
details and he only
used a few colors.
•Can you guess
which colors he
liked to use the
most?

5. I hope you guessed
the primary colors!
Red Yellow Blue

6. For 20 years Piet used only
black, white, gray and the
three primary colors.

7. Besides using just the primary
colors, Piet liked to use:
horizontal
&
vertical
lines in his art.

8. Sometimes he
would change
the thickness
of the lines.
Other times he
would place the
lines close
together or far
apart.

9. He was always trying to find a
perfect balance in his art.

10. When Piet was 68 years old,
he moved to New York City.
The skyscrapers and the straight
lines of the streets must have
reminded him of his paintings!

11. Here are some more paintings
by Piet Mondrian