Neo-Plasticism Piet Mondrian Was Trying

Neo-Plasticism

Piet Mondrian was trying to get at the inner beauty in the art. He was on a spiritual visionary quest to capture the "deep" essence of reality which was to be found in abstraction. This was what was real about the object that was being represented in the art. Mondrian was heavily influence by Cubism, first in Amsterdam, but especially in his stay in Paris before the First World War. As he says, the plastic relationships are veiled. These are the essence of the piece, sort of like the center of the earth having a molten core. In the case of the earth, this is its essence that gives it life. In this abstract core lay the core that was related intimately related to his spiritual and philosophical studies.

In particular, he found much inspiration in theosophy as a follower of Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society. He joined the Dutch branch, where he ingested much of this philosophy which he sought to express in his art. Blavatsky believed that more could be perceived of nature through spiritual introspection than through empirical data. Under this influence, Mondrian tended to veer away from the concrete into the abstract as his art developed. This approach was very much at odds with other artists who had been influenced by Cubism because he poured this theosophical speculation into his work. It is from this that the art theory expressed by Mondrian in his written piece comes from.

In the opinion of this author, the spiritual speculations would have lead directly to the brush stroke line and color combinations on the white background. This expressed the general beauty of an object, in essence its base colors and textures below all of the other less important forms and colors that obscured and hid this center reality.

The art theory expressed by Piet Mondrian found expression in the De Stijl (The Style) journal that fed the Dutch art movement of the same name that dealt with neo-plasticism. Of course, he was not the only major Dutch artist involved it. In fact, Theo van Doesberg was the leading figure along with architect-designers Gefiit

Rietveld and J. .J. P- 0!d and Mondrian's fellow painter Georges Vantongerloo

The expressions of the art and architecture very much reflect Blavatsky's eastern influences. This is because of the expression of balance, just as the easterners would think of the Yin and Yang male and female aspects of humanity complementing each other and well as universal balance off against the individual. Old forms were obstacles to this new spiritual artistic realization and had to be eliminated. This school saw their work as unifying auguring against individual violence and irrationality in order to establish a universal order of peace and harmony, thereby appealing to the better angels of human nature behind the mindless primitive primate who we are, constantly at war with the world around us. This is an evolution to a higher form from a more base form. However, that base is not in and of itself bad. "Bad" tendencies can be mitigated by balancing off its opposite attribute. When they are out of balance and clashing, it is like matter and antimatter and they annihilate each other