Piet Mondrian
Composition V
1927
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, 15 1/8 x 14 in. (38.4 x 35.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Saidie A. May
Object Number
1951.343
Piet Mondrian began his career as a landscape painter, but abandoned naturalism after being exposed to Cubism. "Composition V" is an example of the austere style he perfected in the 1920s. Restricting compositional elements to the bare essentials, Mondrian allowed himself to use only vertical and horizontal lines, right angles, and the three primary colors, plus black and white. Together with fellow artists of the "De Stijl" (The Style) art movement, Mondrian sought to purify art by purging all that was extraneous. The group's goal was to achieve ideal harmony while suppressing individualism, viewed as the underlying cause of World War I.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, by bequest, 1951; Saidie A. May, 1946; Dolly and Pierre Chareau, Paris/New York; from the artist 1928.
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, May 1927.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Saidie A. May Collection of Modern paintings and Sculpture", March 17-April 16, 1950, cat. 86.
Washington D. C., "Piet Mondrian Retrospective", May 7-June 18, 1965.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Saidie A. May Collection," September 6-October 22, 1972, p. 52.
Helen Molesworth and Katy Rothkopf, BMA, "European Abstraction from the Collection 1912-1948", February 28-December 2, 2001.
Centre Pompidou, Paris, "Mondrian / De Stijl", December 01, 2010-March 21, 2011.
The Jewish Museum, New York, "Pierre Chareau," October 28, 2016-March 26, 2017.
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, "Mondrian and DeStijl", November 10, 2020- March 1, 2021.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Saidie A. May Collection of Modern paintings and Sculpture", March 17-April 16, 1950, cat. 86.
Washington D. C., "Piet Mondrian Retrospective", May 7-June 18, 1965.
Baltimore Museum of Art, "Saidie A. May Collection," September 6-October 22, 1972, p. 52.
Helen Molesworth and Katy Rothkopf, BMA, "European Abstraction from the Collection 1912-1948", February 28-December 2, 2001.
Centre Pompidou, Paris, "Mondrian / De Stijl", December 01, 2010-March 21, 2011.
The Jewish Museum, New York, "Pierre Chareau," October 28, 2016-March 26, 2017.
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, "Mondrian and DeStijl", November 10, 2020- March 1, 2021.
The Baltimore Museum of Art News, “Catalogue of the Saidie A. May Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture,” March, 1950, cat. 86, p. 20.
Peter C. Sutton, "A Guide to Dutch Art in America," Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1986, p. 6.
Joop M. Joosten, "Catalogue Raisonné of the Work of 1911-1944," Vol. II, New York: Harry Abrams, 1998, no. B192, p. 335.
Brigitte Leal, "Mondrian," Paris: Centre Pompidou, 2010, p. 238, color ill.
Meyer, Esther da Costa. Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design. New York: The Jewish Museum; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
Inscribed: Initialed lower left: “P. M. ‘27”
