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Cézanne's "Large Pine"
can be seen as a fine example of post-impressionist art.
About twenty years after it's creation
it obtained an eloquent successor...
the cubist "Grey Tree" of Piet Mondrian.
Mondrian built on Picasso's work.
In typical cubist style,
Mondrian let the background planes of the sky
and the subject planes of the tree interpenetrate,
creating a shallow ambiguous space,
as we have seen before in Picasso's painting
of the Santa Bàrbara Mountain.
Given this preparatory study,
a tree drawn from nature,
Mondrian's "Grey Tree" is modeled after reality.
Working over a period of about five years,
Mondrian created many drawings and paintings
in which the cosmic aspect of the tree,
represented by the weaving of its two vital axes,
becomes more and more apparent.
Like Cézanne,
Mondrian underwent an unique personal journey
toward greater abstraction.
Mondrian, born more than 30 years after Cézanne,
was one of the first artists to produce pure abstract,
non-figurative paintings,
independent from visual references in the world.
In his early years in the Netherlands,
Mondrian painted these impressionist trees...
And later this post-impressionist tree,
called: "Evening: The Red Tree".
Just like the "Grey Tree", also the "Red Tree"
was based on a preliminary study from nature.
Mondrian wrote:
"My technique which was more or less Cubist,
and therefore more or less pictorial.
His experiments with cubism, when he lived in Paris,
became more and more non-figurative.
This "Apple Tree in Flower" is hardly recognizable as a tree.
It seems as if Mondrian took his own painting
as the subject for his next works,
the tree becomes a Cubistic pattern of lines and planes,
with experiments in curvy.
He called it: "Trees in Blossom".
In this painting, the reference is difficult to see.
However, this tree drawn from nature,
forms the preliminary study.
It is among the last of Mondrian's works in his mature period
that can be traced to an observable source.
The titles of his paintings significantly do not refer anymore to trees.
This painting is called: "Tableau No.2, Composition No.VII.
At last, his painting became pure abstract,
with no reference to the real world whatsoever.
This style is called "Abstract Geometric Painting",
although, in Mondrian's case,
"Abstract Cubism" is not bad either.
Mondrian himself preferred the term: "Neoplasticism".
Although his paintings did not refer to the real world anymore,
the reverse happened:
his work became a reference for the real world.
This painting: "Composition with Blue, Red, Yellow and Black"
was sold in 2009 for more than 27 million dollar
and belonged to the Yves Saint Laurent -- Pierre Berge collection.
Yves Saint Laurent, the French fashion designer,
used Mondrian's work for designing dresses in 1962.
This is one of Laurent's Mondrian-inspired-dresses
depicted in watercolor by the late fashion illustrator:
Kenneth Paul Block.
Mondrian's abandonment of representational art
appeared to be not definitive.
At the end of his life Mondrian made this -- unfinished -- work.
Compared to his earlier work,
the canvas is divided into a much larger number of squares.
Although he spent most of his career creating abstract work,
this painting is inspired by clear real-world examples:
the city grid of Manhattan,
and the boogie woogie,
music to which Mondrian loved to dance.