“Composition III with Blue, Yellow, and White,” created by artist Piet Mondrian in 1936, exemplifies his signature style rooted in the art movement known as Neoplasticism. This abstract work is rendered in oil on canvas and spans dimensions of 43.5 by 33.5 cm. Mondrian’s art is known for the economy of color and a grid-based structure, striving for a universal aesthetic language through simplistic forms. The painting is currently housed at the Kunstmuseum Basel in Basel, Switzerland.
The artwork manifests Mondrian’s iconic use of geometric abstraction, a rectilinear grid of vertical and horizontal lines that intersect and segment the canvas. These black lines create a series of rectangles and squares which are selectively filled with pure primary colors of blue and yellow, alongside the neutral white, leaving other areas uncolored. The asymmetrical balance and flat planes of color reflect Mondrian’s philosophical belief in a harmonious order that mirrors the underlying structure of reality. The composition restricts itself to the core components of painting—color, surface, line, and space—and demonstrates Mondrian’s pursuit of a form of expression stripped of naturalistic representation, focused instead on the fundamental aspects of visual experience.
