7. Broadway Boogie Woogie
Piet Mondrian, born Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, was a Dutch painter most famous for his Abstract paintings in geometric shapes featuring the colors blue, yellow and red. While in the Netherlands, Mondrian (still Mondriaan at the time) experimented with numerous styles including naturalism, impressionism, pointillism, and Fauvism. It wasn’t until he moved to France, dropped the second “a” in his name, and began embracing Abstract styles that he found success.
In 1940, Mondrian moved to New York City. It was there that he found inspiration for his iconic Broadway Boogie Woogie. The abstract shapes and colors are inspired by the grid layout of the city’s streets. In person, the painting is said to draw the viewer in with the small pops of colors leaping off the campus as though they were neon lights. The art became highly influential in the field of abstract geometric painting.
A second painting in the Boogie Woogie series was the last of Mondrian’s career. Titled Victory Boogie Woogie the painting removed the black lines of Broadway Boogie Woogie and instead featured blocks of colors flush up against each other. Sadly the picture was never finished due to Mondrian’s death of pneumonia in 1944 at the age of 71.
