From 1908 onwards, Mondrian repeatedly spends time at the seaside resort of Domburg on the Walcheren peninsula. The light there fascinates him. He paints the dunes, the sea, the Domburg church tower, and the lighthouse of Westkapelle. His works gradually move away from a realistic representation of nature.
Mondrian is clearly influenced by the French avant-garde movements such as (Post-)Impressionism and Fauvism. He applies the paint with visibly parallel brushstrokes, and the colors deviate from those that the object has in reality.
This can be clearly observed in the painting “Mill in Sunlight,” in which the windmill stands flaming red against a brilliant blue-yellow sky. The painting is so disconcerting to contemporaries that it causes a scandal during an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Whoever paints like this must be insane, one critic argued.
1908
Mill; Mill in Sunlight [Mill in Sunlight: The Winkel Mill]
Knowledge of the world through abstraction Mondrian and Spirituality
In the early nineteenth century, many artists become increasingly interested in theosophy, a combination of religious and natural philosophical approaches that relates all knowledge to God.
This movement can be seen as a reaction to the increasing materialism in society and the boundless affirmation of progress. Theosophists strive for inner wisdom through a spiritual development of the mind.
1911
Molen (Mill); The Red Mill
1911, Oil on canvas, 150 × 86 cm Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, the Netherlands
1909 — 1910
Zon, Kerk in Zeeland (Sun, Church in Zeeland); Zoutelande Church Façade
Piet Mondrian also studies theosophical literature and henceforth begins to incorporate a symbolic level into his artwork. By the time he joins the Dutch section of the Theosophical Society in 1909, his worldview had evolved from the Calvinism that characterized his parental home to Theosophy. Mondrian gives artistic expression to this new understanding of the world through abstraction in form and color—always following the idea of inner and outer balance that underlies everything.
1908
Row of Eleven Poplars in Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green
Around the same time that Theosophy emerges, the German scientist and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe questions Isaac Newton’s established theory of color: Newton assumed that color was a fixed property of real existing objects, which the eye observes and is only translated into color by the brain.
1809
Color Circle of Goethe, Watercolor drawing
from 1809, original: Freies Deutsches Hochstift – Frankfurter Goethe-Museum
Goethe disagrees: He believes that each object adds its own mental color value to the eye’s observation. His assumption is based on the observation that darkness shows itself in deep blue, while the light of dusk bathes the world in a soft pinkish red. Mondrian takes up this color perception, for example, in “Zeeland Church Tower (Church at Domburg)” and, in keeping with Goethe’s theory of colors, henceforth concentrates on the primary colors red, yellow, and blue.
On his first trip in 1908, he visits them in their villa Loverendale, a newly built house in the dunes near Domburg. The villa is a popular meeting place for numerous artists and is also important for Mondrian – here, he can share his interest in theosophy and anthroposophy with like-minded people.
Villa Loverendale te Domburg.
Collectie C.J. Vreeke, Zeeuws Archief, Verzameling Beeld en Geluid, nr 341-46
It is also conceivable that Mondrian made several sketches of a prominent tree in the garden of Loverendale here, which were to serve as preliminary studies for “The Red Tree” (1908–1910). Domburg is known as an artists’ colony: There, Mondrian meets, among others, the artist Jan Toorop, who opens an exhibition venue in Domburg, where Mondrian exhibits in 1911 and 1912. Incidentally, Jacoba van Heemskerck is part of the exhibition committee until she herself – somewhat later – becomes an important artist of the avant-garde movement Der Sturm. Over the years, Marie Tak van Poortvliet acquires several works by Mondrian from the Cubist and neoplastic periods.
ca. 1920
Villa Loverendale in Domburg, house of Marie Tak van Poortvliet.
Postcard from ca. 1920, ZB Library of Zeeland, Beeldbank Zeeland postcard collection, record number 4451
