Composizione con grande piano rosso, giallo, nero, grigio e blu

In 1920, back in Paris after the First World War had kept him stranded in the neutral Netherlands, Mondrian published a small essay setting out what he called Neo-Plasticism. Art, he argued, should stop imitating the look of things and build instead from pure elements. This canvas from 1921 is the first painting he made once that idea was fully in place, and it is essentially the Mondrian everyone now pictures. Straight black bands cross a white ground, and he allows himself only the three primary colours plus grey. One large red square dominates the top, and the smaller blocks of blue, yellow and grey are set to hold their own against it. The canvas itself is a small square, under 60 centimetres a side, and a visiting Dutch friend bought it from him the year it was made.