In the manner of Piet Mondrian
Dutch, 1872–1944
Composition: Board, 2026
Oil on canvas
127 × 127 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.17.4
Black lines, small square nodes where they cross, and thin yellow traces climbing a ladder up the left-hand side. A big red rectangle fills most of the right, as quiet as a chip. Mondrian believed the right lines in the right proportions could show the order underneath everything. He meant the universe. He did not expect it to run at three gigahertz.
The brief
A grid of black lines with small square nodes at intersections, thin yellow traces branching, one large red rectangle. De Stijl neoplastic oil painting, a grid of black horizontal and vertical lines of varying thickness on white, rectangles filled with pure red, yellow and blue, some lines broken into small stuttering blocks of colour like lights along a route, strict flatness, hand-painted edges slightly imperfect, matte surface. Museum photograph of the oil painting, flat even lighting, no frame, no text, no wall, no floor, cropped to the canvas edge.
Written to the house rules. The painter's name does not appear.
Take it home
The painting on this room's wall, at its own proportions, nothing written on it.
