Composition No. 10: pier and ocean.

"Composition No. 10: pier and ocean" was written by Mondrian in the period of forced isolation. At that time raged in Europe, the First world war, and the artist could not come back from the Netherlands so he loved France. Its annoying and monotonous landscapes, and the lack of the usual rhythm of life, and most of all Dutch artists, stuck in their own styles and techniques, frozen like flies in amber. Finally in desperation, Mondrian goes in Zealand, province in the southwest of the Netherlands), where settles by the sea and spends his days in solitude.

At this time, the sea occupies almost all his thoughts and moved on his canvases. For many centuries painters carried on their canvases a variety of seascapes, admiring and being inspired by variability and depth, the play of light and color. Not too talented the artists were straining as accurately as possible to depict the constant motion of the sea waves, dynamics and liveliness of water. But Mondrian has managed to achieve this with crossing vertical and horizontal lines. And only two colors.

At first glance, "Composition No. 10" seems to be a conglomeration of straight lines scattered around the oval field. But if you look at it from afar – and we can clearly distinguish in the outgoing side of the horizon, pierce and the surrounding turbulent water. Absolutely amazing Mondrian stingy expressive means dynamism on the sea landscape. It is interesting that for this work the artist made many preliminary sketches EN plein air. And shortly before his death he said that "Composition No. 10" is closely connected with his Theosophical beliefs. According to them, the tree and chain are symbols of masculinity, and the sea and the horizontal the female. Thus, through this painting, Mondrian sought to Express the ambivalence of every human in which coexist both male and female parts.

Author: Eugene Sidelnikov