
The story
Piet Mondrian died in New York in 1944 with one painting unfinished on the easel: 'Victory Boogie Woogie', a diamond-shaped canvas jumping with little blocks of red, yellow and blue, his attempt to catch the rhythm of Manhattan jazz. It hangs in The Hague, in the museum that owns more of his work than anywhere else, around 300 pieces tracing his path from ordinary Dutch landscapes to the grid of straight lines and primary colors that made his name.
The building suits him. It was the last design of Hendrik Berlage, the architect often called the father of modern Dutch architecture, who died in 1934 before it was finished. It opened in 1935, a calm composition of yellow brick and long low galleries, among the first museums laid out to move visitors gently from room to room.
Around the Mondrians the collection keeps to the same early-20th-century world, with De Stijl furniture, Art Deco objects and a large holding of modern fashion, so the flat geometry on the walls has its chairs and its dresses close by.
Collection
17 works
Victory Boogie WoogiePiet Mondrian, 1942
The Red TreePiet Mondrian, 1909
Gray TreePiet Mondrian, 1911
EvolutionPiet Mondrian, 1911
Poppy fieldVincent van Gogh, 1890
Cassis, Cap Lombard, Opus 196Paul Signac, 1889
Composition with Large Red Plane, Yellow, Black, Grey and BluePiet Mondrian, 1921
Lighthouse in WestkapellePiet Mondrian, 1908
The red cloudPiet Mondrian, 1907
The Red MillPiet Mondrian, 1910
DevotionPiet Mondrian, 1908
Mill in SunlightPiet Mondrian, 1908
A CenterWassily Kandinsky, 1922
A Farmhouse Behind a FencePiet Mondrian, 1904
Composition No.IV / Composition 6Piet Mondrian, 1914
Flowering Garden with PathVincent van Gogh, 1888
Tableau IPiet Mondrian, 1921