"Study in Paris, just before World War I, introduced Mondrian to modes of abstraction in avant-garde art such as Cubism.  However, as his attraction to contemporary theological writings grew, Mondrian sought to purge his art of every overt reference to individual objects in the external world."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, p. 1048

Seascape

     "Mondrian soon moved beyond Cubism because he felt 'Cubism did not accept the logical consequences of its own discoveries; it was not developing towards its own goal...' ... Mondrian eventually limited his formal vocabulary to the three primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), the three primary values (black, white, and grey), and the two primary directions (horizontal and vertical).  Basing his ideas on a combination of teachings, he concluded that primary colors and values are the purest colors and therefore are the perfect tools to help an artist construct a harmonious composition.  Using this system, he created numerous paintings locking color planes into a grid of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines...  In each of these paintings, Mondrian altered the grid patterns and the size and placement of the color planes to create an internal cohesion and harmony.  This did not mean inertia; rather, Mondrian worked to maintain a dynamic tension in his paintings from the size and position of lines, shapes, and colors."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, p. 1049

Composition / Red Square

Diagonal Composition