Lot 18 Dα

Piet Mondrian's naturalistic-impressionistic early work is defined by his intense observation of the Dutch landscape and its appearances. For these works from the period until around 1912, Mondrian selected manifestly simple views of the countryside: meadows, houses next to fields, small groups of trees or, as in the case of our picture, an irrigation canal. As little as these paintings and drawings have to do with Mondrian's divisionistic-cubistic works or the radicalism of his Neo-Plastic compositions at first glance, his interest in the absolute, the spiritual and the hidden is already visible within them. Mondrian devoted his attention to the landscapes of his homeland with a precise and patient eye, as though he wished to break through to their underlying essence via their repetition in pictures. Mondrian's initial occupation with Theosophy, which would accompany him for the rest of his life, did in fact take place in the period around 1900.
Our depiction of a canal with a farmer and a woman doing laundry represents a discovery, and it only recently became possible for it to be entered into the catalogue of works by Piet Mondrian. The elongated vertical format is remarkable compositionally, but so is the pictorial expansion of the landscape through the two figures, which are only rarely to be found in Mondrian's work. Their depiction contains scarcely any narrative, not to mention picturesque, element; instead, the blue and white of their clothing signalises Mondrian's exceptional sense for the absolute quality of colour.