Theo van Doesburg
Interior
1918
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Theo van Doesburg
Interior
1918
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, 25 5/8 × 21 3/16 × 1 1/8 in. (65.1 × 53.8 × 2.9 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Saidie A. May
Object Number
1951.292
Van Doesburg was a founding member of the Dutch art movement De Stijl (The Style) formed in 1917. The group, which included artist Piet Mondrian, sought to express ideal spiritual harmony by radically simplifying form and color. This led to compositions based exclusively on vertical and horizontal elements and a palette limited to the three primary colors, plus black and white. Interior appears more relaxed and painterly than many De Stijl works and includes diagonals and curves, as well as naturalistic earth tones. These features have led some scholars to date the work earlier than its 1919 inscription, placing it in the period just prior to the self-imposed restrictions of full-fledged De Stijl.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, by bequest, 1951; Saidie A. May, by purchase from the Pinacoteca Gallery, New York, 1949
In the Temple of the Self - The Artist's Residence as a Total Work of Art Europe and America 1800-1949
The Renoir Returns
Cone Wing Rotations 2020
Northwest Cone Rotations 2021
Northwest Cone Rotations 2022
Northwest Cone Rotations 2023
Cone Wing Rotations 2024
Peter C. Sutton, "A Guide to Dutch Art in America," Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1986, p. 6.
The Baltimore Museum of Art News, “Catalogue of the Saidie A. May Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture,” March, 1950, cat. 31, p. 12.
Margot Th. Brandlhuber and Michael Buhrs, Editors, "In the Temple of Self: The Artist's Residence as a Total Work of Art, Europe and America, 1800-1948," Munich: Villa Stuck, 2013, color ill. p. 305.
Inscribed: VERSO: Center, paint?, "ETUDE" ULQ, customs stamp Stretcher, bottom, pencil, "15... (illeg)." written over "Theo van DOESBURG." (upside down) Archives, stamp UL customs Stretcher, center bar, "No III" and pencil "LLF/114" (upside down)
