Mondrian's Play

Sally W. JohnsonBirmingham, Alabama

"Man is a singular creature. He has a set ofgifts which make him unique among theanimals; so that, unlike them, he is not a figurein the landscape - he is a shaper of the land-scape. In body and in mind he is the explorerof nature, the ubiquitous animal, who did notfind but has made his home in every conti-nent."

Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man, 1973Little, Brown and Company, Boston

Piet Mondrian finished "Natural Reality andAbstract Reality" in 1920, more than fifty years beforeBronowski called man the "shaper of the landscape."'Yet Bronowski's words could easily serve as a synopsisof Mondrian's theme. "Natural Reality and AbstractReality" is usually considered an essay, but this writercontends that this work is actually a play and that itgraphically portrays the evolution of Mondrian's ar-tistic theory. 2 It is certainly written in a dramatic formatwith three characters, scenery, and dialogue. It movesfrom a natural setting toward a man-made environ-ment, taking a route from country to city and followinga pattern already established in Mondrian's sketch-books of 1913-14.' The first few scenes are presented ina naturalistic manner while the later scenes are highlyconceptualized, presenting not only the hand of the ar-tist but his mind and will as well.

A careful study of the play makes it apparent thatMondrian's intention is to portray the evolution of artin general, as well as the specific development of hisown visual work. 4 I have selected four works to il-lustrate this progression (all from the collection of theHaags Gemeentemuseum/The Hague), but any numberof other paintings from Mondrian's oeuvre could easilyserve as visual parallels to the ideas discussed in theplay. Specific relationships between the settings of theseven scenes and the evolution of Mondrian's own visu-al work are also amplified in the characters' dialogue.

The play relates the evolution of art to the evolutionof man with a prophesied "new man" arising from asynthesis of these two phenomena. The culmination of

these ideas comes in the form of the concept that thespace-time continuum is neither mind alone nor matteralone, but a synthesis of the two, and that the "City ofParadise" Mondrian describes in the final ideas of theplay will be peopled by beings who have so integratedthese two forms of existence that their world is one ofbalance, harmony, and equivalence. Mondrian insiststhat the realization of this Paradise will be aided byAbstract/Realist art.5

This play is important because it clearly shows thedevelopment of Mondrian's ideas at a crucial period inhis career. He chose as his characters X, Y, and Z.These may have been random alphabetical designations,but it seems more likely that he chose these termsbecause they also served as three-dimensional coor-dinates. Thus he takes the reader "through the lookingglass" and at the same time "through the vanishingpoint" by employing three axes of a mathematical coor-dinate system. According to this theory X represents thehorizontal axis in a system of Cartesian coordinates. Heis a naturalistic painter who sees everything in regard tothe horizon and serves as a symbol of the old traditions.X's earth-bound horizontality is noticeable throughoutthe play. Y then is the vertical coordinate and representsan art lover. In an even larger sense, Y symbolizeshumanity in general in the role of observer.' He asksquestions and responds to the statements of X and Z,but does not generate major ideas. In the Renaissancetradition, the eye level of the observer (1) determinedthe height of the vanishing point. Y, the vertical coor-dinate, and X, the horizontal coordinate, thus define atwo dimensional plane. During the dialogue, Z, theAbstract/Realist painter, pierces the point of intersec-tion between X and Y to take us through the two dimen-sional place into the third dimension.

This journey through the plane of X and Y is notsimply an adventure into depth, it is as well a removalto a new awareness of reality. In this new reality thingsdo not diminish in size as they approach the vanishingpoint, they maintain their own identity and their struc-tures are more closely analyzed. This is apparent inMondrian's own painting (Figs. 1-4). The illusion ofconverging parallel lines is discarded and thephenomenon observed is close at hand. Although theimage on the surface of a mirror gives one the illusion ofdepth, if one steps through that plane of illusion, onefinds oneself on the chess-board with Alice where every

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square is the same size as every other square. Going"through the looking glass" one abandons illusionisticperspective, a theme that is manifested literally andfiguratively throughout the play in both the settings andthe dialogue. By the final scene of the play one goesbeyond the three dimensions characterized by width,height, and depth, (X, Y, and Z), when one passesthrough the plane of the cubic studio and enters the newreality created by Z, the Abstract/Realist. Mondrian'sgoal was to depict the universal, especially as it relates tothe spiritual element of human being. The transforma-tion that occurs in his visual work and in the play isrelated to this perception of the universal. 7

The first scenes of the play take place in a countrysidethat is flat with a vast horizon. A similar visual treat-ment can be observed in Mondrian's early work such ashis Mill in the Evening, (1907, Fig. 1). X, Y, and Z arediscussing music and the relation of one thing toanother, two ideas central to Mondrian's work. Z stateshis attraction for the condition of repose. He wants toexpress it plastically and supress the idea of the tragic,which this author interprets as a sort of cowardice thatrobs human beings of the courage to exist.' The interac-tion of characters X, Y, and Z develops gradually, andY acts as the prototype "receiver" to the images pro-jected by "senders" X and Z. Y becomes increasinglysignificant as the play progresses and the theme of theimportance of the members of society is picked up againin the urban setting at the end of the play.9

During the scenes which emphasize nature, Z indi-cates his knowledge of the ideas of Impressionism whenhe discusses light and the change in forms and color itcauses. He makes the listener aware of the flatness ofthe expressive plane. As the characters discuss thephilosophy of inwardness and outwardness, Y asks,"But do we always have to look past nature in order toachieve a conscious contemplation of peace?" To whichZ replies, "We ought not to look past nature, rather, we

Fig. 2. P. Mondrian, Dune I1, 1909. Collection Haags Ge-meentemuseum/The Hague.

Fig. 1. P. Mondrian, Mill in the Evening, 1907. Collection Haags Ge-meentemuseum/The Hague.

should look through it: we ought to see more deeply,our vision should be abstract, universal. Then externali-ty will become for us what it really is: the mirror oftruth."'" The dialogue develops the idea that thestraight line and the flat plane are the only two elementsrequired for saying everything." Z speaks of the studyof nature as a means of moving from external to innerconsciousness and mentions contemplation as a way ofachieving objective progress. This anticipates the resolu-tion that occurs in the final scene.

One of the natural settings is a bright, starry sky visi-ble above a vast stretch of sand. This could very well bea description of Mondrian's painting of 1909, Dune II(Fig. 2) where segments of light and a broken surface ofsand are recorded in a pointillist manner. In this scenethe characters talk of seeing through natural relations. Zpoints out that all our senses are involved in interpretingnature, not just vision and makes the point that natureis transformed through the human mind. Dune II withits broken brush strokes and divisionist appearance is anillustration of the concept. The mind of the artist hastransformed external appearance through the method ofcontemplation. This experience is translated through theplay and the reader takes another step in the journeythrough the evolution of art, moving from nature to itscontemplation and its transformation.

The early portion of the play also sets the stage forideas that are developed in later scenes, such as thediscussion of the angle of vision, the highly abstractquality of urban surroundings compared with rusticnature, and the idea of a new society composed of abalance between the material and the spiritual.

Z uses the terms "contemplation" and "plastic vi-sion" interchangeably, and suggests that contemplationbrings us to a conscious vision of the unchangeable andthe universal. By contrast, things that are temporal, theindividual self, or human pettiness of any sort are unim-portant and futile concerns.' 2 Z refers to Schopenhauerand then declares that the purpose of paintingthroughout history has been "To give concrete ex-istence, through color and line, to the universal." 3 Headds, "From the moment we are capable of contempla-

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Fig. 3. P. Mondrian, The Red Mill, 1910/11. Collection Haags Ge-meentemuseum/The Hague.

tion, isn't abstraction reality?"' His point is about thecosmic importance of the mind of man. Z stresses that,"Man is a very special being, situated right in the middleof existing things." This is an idea supported by moderntheories of physics that assert that man's physical size ishalf way between the smallest electron and the largeststar. Z seems to be correct - Man is "situated right inthe middle," he is the mean between macrocosm andmicrocosm. '5 This is a condition of physical size, but itcontributes to the search for the universal by emphasiz-ing the precious quality of mind and material and theimportance of interaction between the two. Z's conclu-sion, however, is that spiritual progress is made throughthe embodiment in art of what the artist is in himself. Ashe says, "Let us comfort ourselves with the thought thatwe are constantly growing."'I

In a conversation between Y and Z, the evolution ofthe mind is proposed as the generator of the evolutionof art. ' 7 Z says that by hard work the artist can obtain a

relatively satisfactory solution of the problem, but byconscious contemplation, he can see through nature,distinguish truth more clearly, and see more objectively.Natural appearances will be destroyed and the artist willbe able to construct the universal as he reduces the in-dividual. This concept of "seeing through" supports theidea that Z represents the axis "Z" that takes one's vi-sion through the plane of "X" and "Y." Z asserts oncemore that only through man can nature become art; itmust be transformed through the human mind. Thisreflects ideas of Goethe as well as the Theosophicalwritings of Steiner on the unity of art and nature. It alsobecomes apparent that the play must end in the citybecause the city is man's naturally created environ-ment. 'I8

X asks if we always see things from the same angle ofvision, to which Z replies that modern painting(Cubism) displays a many sided representation ofthings. He believes this tendency may be ascribed to agreater consciousness of the fourth dimension. 9 Theconcept of the space-time continuum is a factor in thisdiscussion.2" Z comments that the balanced relation isrelative and is perfected in time. He also strengthens hisargument by speaking of the successive forms of art andthe life of each artist. All of this, of course, relates toMondrian's Neo-Plastic theory and his own destruc-tion/reconstruction of natural order, incorporation ofthe fourth dimension and movement toward abstrac-tion.

In his The Red Mill, (Fig. 3) he used a dramaticallydifferent angle of vision from the one he had used forthe earlier Mill in the Evening. The viewpoint is frombelow, looking up, and the emphasis has changed fromthe horizontal to the vertical. The motionless wings inFig. 3 also seem to be symbols of time standing still. Thesymbolic nature of the wings also relates to Mondrian'suse of the cross as a mystical mathematical sign. In thedialogue, Z reiterates the idea of the right angle (a cross)as the basis for everything.2' He says he does not findthe mill more beautiful than other things, rather he seesin all nature the revelation of the right angle. The rightangle is the structure on which Mondrian based his newplastic vision. For him it represents the supreme imageof opposites, of their tension and of their resolution. Zalso talks of the balance of color and points out how im-portant the first burst of intuitive emotion is. He claimsthat it is what makes "the studies and rough sketches ofnaturalistic painters stronger than their pictures." Hethen makes the important statement that "What alonecounts in art is to produce an emotion of thebeautiful." 22

As the play draws towards its conclusion, the scenechanges to the city and the actors contemplate one ofthe buildings of man. They reflect on its flatness andgeometry. Z points out that this is not abstractionbecause the geometry is not always clear, the ornamen-tal and decorative still interfere. He notes that people'ssurroundings "for a long time yet will be deprived of

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abstract reality" because "art has failed to interpretlife.. .it has gone astray into the agreeable, the pretty,the expensive, the decorative...'I 23 Z talks of the "newman" who will use the machine without becoming amachine while he concentrates on spiritual inner things.An illustration of these ideas can be seen in Mondrian's1914 Church at Domberg (Fig. 4). The drawing relatesto traditional church architecture, but the decorativeand superfluous have been eliminated to focus onflatness and geometry. The structural essence of thechurch is the means of perceiving its spirituality.

The final scene of the play takes place in Z's studio-the epitome of the artist's dominion. Here theAbstract/Realist has shaped his own environment exact-ly to his liking, omitting objects of the past or worksthat are not his own. The movement into the studio alsoforms the dramatic climax of the play. Up until thispoint X, Y, and Z have been outside. Now they are in-side. External experience has become internalized, for Zhas made his entire dwelling an expression of balanceand proportion. Not only are X, Y, and Z lookingthrough nature, they have entered a new world that pro-vides the condition of repose which Z has been seekingall along. The characters have passed through the planeof the studio that separated them from the externalworld. Y is sad that the evening is over and seemsmelancholy as he expresses the thought that Z's ideal

may be too difficult for a simple art lover to achieve. Zcomforts him by reiterating what they have encounteredin their journey from the country to the city to finallythe studio. They have passed through the evolution ofart from naturalism, to Cubism to abstract reality.

Z makes three points in this discussion: first, that thenaturalistic painter subjectively forms fixed images ofthe natural world; second, that the Cubist differs fromthe naturalistic painter in that his image is a departurefrom ordinary vision and habitual perspective, andthird, that the abstract/realist painter forms fixed im-ages of visible reality by expressing abstract relation-ships. This writer interprets the dialogue as showing artmoving into an arena where subject and object becomeone thing just as abstraction and reality are two formsof the same thing. This concept is symbolized in Z'sstudio where the work of art and the environment have"changed places." Rather than being spectators, X, Y,and Z are, in the final section of the play, immersed inthe external manifestation of Z's consciousness.2"

Acceptance of the evolutionary process of art is dif-ficult for X, the traditionalist, who asks, "But isn't thehand of the artist everything?" To which Z replies,"You are thinking in terms of the old art." Z describesthe old art as keeping the universal veiled. "The new artneeds skillful technicians.. .the Neo-plastic artist wantsthe result to be a 'bit different' from what he himselfdoes!"

After a discussion of the culture that is about to die,using Paris and its beauty as an example, Z cautions theother characters not to think of the "City of Paradise"he is describing as a Utopia. He says that "the city ofchildren will one day be a city of adults: all we have todo is wait for the children to grow up." After compar-ing the old and the new man, Z responds to the state-ment of Y that "Art must constantly be transformed,"with this final statement,

Everything changes by growth. Man, bygrowing transcends and goes beyond nature;thus the expression of his vital force changes.He followed nature as long as the natural wasdominant in the spirit of the age: but with thematuration of the natural in him, thenaturalistic representation of vital energycould no longer satisfy him. At that momenthis human consciousness, more completealready contained a new interpretation."

"Natural Reality and Abstract Reality" offers us anopportunity to study Mondrian's Neo-Plastic theory atthe moment of its formation. It can shed light on theprocess of his evolutionary thinking and on the develop-ment of his own visual work.

Fig. 4. P. Mondrian, Church at Domburg, 1914. Collection HaagsGemeentemuseum/The Hague.

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Notes

1. Mondrian, Piet, "Natural Reality and Abstract Reality" inSeuphor, Michel Piet Mondrian Life and Work (New York: Harry N.Abrams, Inc. 1955?) The years 1919 to 1920 were a time of new ideasthat saw the Newtonian structure of the past being unfolded to revealpreviously unobserved aspects of nature. Einstein's theory thatgravitation bends light had been tested by 1919 and relativity hadbecome a usual term. Joyce had published Portrait of the Artist as aYoung Man and portions of Ulysses by 1920. Distinct parallels existbetween these writings and the play, for example, Ulysses takes placein one day, the play in one evening. Portrait shows the artist in exileundergoing a transformation from religion to art.

2. Kandinsky had also written a stage composition called "TheYellow Sound," which incorporated actors, dialogue, music andscenery. See The Blaue Reiter Almanac edited by Wassily Kandinskyand Franz Marc (Documents of 20th Century Art, New York: TheViking Press, 1974, Robert Motherwell, general editor, KlausLankheit, documentary editor) p. 207. He had also lamented thedestruction of the atom and wailed about the destruction of his veryworld and its scientific foundations. See Laxmi Prasad Sihare,"Oriental Influences on Kandinsky and Mondrian," Ann Arbor,Michigan, University Microfilms International Dissertations p. 80.

One of the influences of this time was the Theosophical prose ofsuch people as Madame H.P. Blavatsky, Rudolph Steiner and WillardBrainard. Brainard had expounded the relationship of sound and sightas early as the 1880's. See Sihare, op. cit. p. 99.

3. Mondrian, Piet Two Mondrian Sketchbooks (1913-1914)(Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1969).

4. Holtzman notes in the preface to the sketchbooks that Mondrianwas always emphatic that his writing came after the direct intuitive ex-perience of the painting. It is probable that the play was an outgrowthof his own visual work.

5. There is a distinctly religious quality to the writing of the play andin several places it suggests associations with the writing of St. Pauland words of Christ as recorded in The Bible.

6. Mondrian placed great emphasis on "the public" and its relation-ship to the artist in his early notes when he states, "We always mustview the artist in relation to society. Art and society are one." seeMondrian, Sketchbook I (1913-14), p. 69.

7. As early as 1909 one finds Mondrian stating that art can providea transition to the finer regions and he describes his path of ascensionas away from matter. Mondrian, Piet Two Mondrian Sketchbooks(1913-1914) (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, translated by Robert P. Welshand J.M. Joosten, 1969) forward, letter to Querido.

8. See Mondrian, "Natural Reality..." p. 352 in Seuphor, op. cit.for Seuphor's definition of the tragic.

9. The interaction of members of society is given high priority earlyin Mondrian's writings as can be noted in this statement: "Do notregard a human being merely as a person by himself: but also as he isvis-a-vis another person (that is, how beneficial he is to another.)" seeMondrian, Sketchbook, 11.

10. Mondrian, "Natural Reality...," in Seuphor,op. cit., p. 311.11. This same concept may be found in the work of Descartes. See

The Essential Descartes, edited by Margaret D. Wilson, (N.Y.: Men-tor, The New American Library, Inc., 1969) p. 105.

12. Mondrian, "Natural Reality...," in Seuphor,op. cit., p. 311.13. Ibid.14. This question is related to ideas expressed by Kandinsky in his

essay "On the Question of Form." See The Blaue Reiter Almanac,op. cit., p. 165.

15. Barnett, Lincoln The Universe and Dr. Einstein (New York:Bantam Books, May 1968, First printing, William Morrow, 1948) p.22.

16. Mondrian, "Natural Reality...," in Seuphor, op. cit., p. 316.17. Ibid.18. In Goethe's Weltanschauung, written by Steiner in 1897 the

statement is made that artistic creation is a higher form of "Natur-wirken." This reference is quoted in "The Sounding Cosmos," SixtenRingbom, Acta Academiae Aboensis, Ser. A. Humaniora, Vol. 38, nr2 (1970), p. 194. Later in the 20th century one finds Jackson Pollockasserting "I am nature!"

19. For further discussion of the question of the Fourth Dimensionin art see Louise Dalrymple Henderson, "A New Facet of Cubism,"Art Quarterly, 34 No. 4 (Winter '71) pp. 4 10 -4 3 3 .

20. Barnett, Lincoln op. cit., p. 70 "The world is a space-time con-tinuum; all reality exists both in space and in time, and the two are in-divisible."

21. Sihare, op. cit., p. 51. A quotation of Blavatsky's mystical

mathematical interpretations can be found and alligns with themystical mathematics of M.H.J. Schoenmaekers who is also quoted inSihare.

22. Mondrian, "Natural Reality...," in Seuphor,op. cit., p. 323.23. Some of the play's best humor occurs when Z suggests that the

existing paintings in a room be turned over and used as rectangularelements in the articulation of the wall.

24. An outstanding setting for the final scene would be the stage set

created for "L'Ephemere est eternel" created by Mondrian in 1926.Using a work completed after the play was written gives a sense of ex-tension, thus continuing the concept of extension dealt withthroughout the dialogue. Another interesting environmental structure

of Mondrian's is the Salon designed for Madame B... a Dresden in1926 and installed at Pace Gallery in New York in the spring of 1970.

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TITLE: Mondrian’s PlaySOURCE: Southeast Coll Art Conf Rev 10 no2 Spr 1982

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