Description

Mondrian and De Stjil

“Mondrian and De Stijl” sets out a rereading of the figure and artistic corpus of the Dutch artist and his relationship with the De Stijl movement. In parallel, it enables a resignification of the dawn and constitutive nature of modernity, underlining how “the modern artist by antonomasia”, as Mondrian is described by the show’s curator, Hans Janssen, and the movement or artistic context that made him as such, were distanced from its precepts and ideals.

The publication accompanies an exhibition (“Mondrian and De Stijl”, Museo Reina Sofía and Stichting Kunstmuseum Den Haag) underpinned by new theories and research to refute the modern image of autonomy and self-reference that has instructed the perception of Mondrian’s work for long enough. In its place, a polyhedric, complex and heterogeneous side of the artist is presented, throwing into relief the need to rethink the Eurocentric notion of modernity.