Natural Reality and Abstract Reality: An Essay in Trialogue Form/1919-1920

by Piet Mondrian, Martin James (Translator)

Internationally recognized as a pioneer of abstract art, the founder of Neo-Plasticism, and the ideological father of the De Stijl movement, Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) created both paintings and writings that embodied the spirit of modernism. Mondrian saw himself as an arch-Modernist with uncompromisingly strong ideas about what art was to be about in the next century. He viewed abstraction as the ideal artistic and spiritual direction, and argued this cause in his most important text, "Natural Reality and Abstract Reality." Written in Holland at the outset of 1919 and completed in Paris in July of that year, Mondrian's Trialogue carefully presents the artist's ideas through the voices of A Layman, A Naturalist Painter, and An Abstract-Real Painter. Abstraction contains, Mondrian proposes, the essence of what art of all the ages sought to express - relationship, harmony, repose, life force, the universal. In the Trialogue, Mondrian demonstrates the basis of his new art form in visible reality. This volume also contains Mondrian's "two urban sketches" entitled "Les Grands Boulevards" and "Little Restaurant - Palm Sunday, " which form ideal literary complements to the Trialogue.

Genres: Art, Philosophy

112 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1995

About the author

Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, one of the founders of the Dutch modern movement De Stijl, is recognized for the purity of his abstractions and methodical practice by which he arrived at them. He radically simplified the elements of his paintings to reflect what he saw as the spiritual order underlying the visible world, creating a clear, universal aesthetic language within his canvases. In his best known paintings from the 1920s, Mondrian reduced his shapes to lines and rectangles and his palette to fundamental basics pushing past references to the outside world toward pure abstraction. His use of asymmetrical balance and a simplified pictorial vocabulary were crucial in the development of modern art, and his iconic abstract works remain influential in design and familiar in popular culture to this day.
A theorist and writer, Mondrian believed that art reflected the underlying spirituality of nature. He simplified the subjects of his paintings down to the most basic elements, in order to reveal the essence of the mystical energy in the balance of forces that governed nature and the universe.
Mondrian chose to distill his representations of the world to their basic vertical and horizontal elements, which represented the two essential opposing forces: the positive and the negative, the dynamic and the static, the masculine and the feminine. The dynamic balance of his compositions reflect what he saw as the universal balance of these forces.
Mondrian's singular vision for modern art is clearly demonstrated in the methodical progression of his artistic style from traditional representation to complete abstraction. His paintings evolve in a logical manner, and clearly convey the influence of various modern art movements such as Luminism, Impressionism, and most importantly, Cubism.
Mondrian, and the artists of De Stijl, advocated pure abstraction and a pared down palette in order to express a utopian ideal of universal harmony in all of the arts. By using basic forms and colors, Mondrian believed that his vision of modern art would transcend divisions in culture and become a new common language based in the pure primary colors, flatness of forms, and dynamic tension in his canvases.
Mondrian's book on Neo-Plasticism became one of the key documents of abstract art. In it, he detailed his vision of artistic expression in which "plastic" simply referred to the action of forms and colors on the surface of the canvas as a new method for representing modern reality. [http://www.theartstory.org/artist-mon...]

Reviews

[celia aranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

z: subjetivamente, lo trágico es producido por la dominación de la naturaleza en nosotros; objetivamente, por la dominación de la naturaleza fuera de nosotros.

y: y a ésta no se la puede volver inofensiva sino mediante el crecimiento de todo nuestro ser, nuestra exterioridad y nuestra interioridad, nuestra naturaleza y nuestro espíritu...¿no es eso?

z: volver inofensiva... una relación más equilibrada de una y otra puede alcanzarse hoy, pero volver lo trágico en nosotros completamente inofensivo sólo se podrá lograr en un futuro muy lejano, al igual que, por otra parte, el dominio de lo trágico fuera de nosotros. Sí, esto último también se conseguirá, en un futuro lejanísimo, cuando se pueda considerar lo que está fuera de nosotros como formando parte de nosotros mismos o, mejor, cuando nos consideremos como un órgano de esa naturaleza exterior a nosotros, pues ésa es la condición indispensable para que todo nuestro ser se interiorice, mientras que al presente esa interiorización sólo tiene lugar en la conciencia. Llegado ese punto, la aparición natural cesa: la dualidad se vuelve realmente unidad.

[Paulina Rosales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un diálogo bastante coherente, este libro es una excelente opción para comenzar a entender el arte figurativo y abstracto, a pesar de que Mondrian se inclinaba más por el segundo, ofrece una amplia perspectiva y confrontación entre ambas, todo desde una perspectiva del artista moderno embebido en su contexto sociocultural.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting dip into the mind of Mondrian. Wish I could have shown up at some exhibits while reading.

[Jessica Páez · Rating 4 out of 5]

No es el tipo de literatura que consumo la verdad la primera lectura me patio en la cara pero ya voy de a poquitos entendiendo ya voy como en mi 3 lectura de este libro y está bastante bien

[Lechiot Volant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le ton est péremptoire. Les amateurs de Mondrian s'amuseront à imaginer ses toiles à travers les scènes décrites mais la peinture est de beaucoup supérieure à la pensée qui mélange une sorte de métaphysique vitaliste avec un traité de composition.
Le dernier texte sur la visée universelle de la Nouvelle Plastique est très intéressant pour comprendre la finalité sociale de ce style artistique. La démonstration est toutefois trop paternaliste et le caractère artificiel des "dialogues" trop présent.