Piet Mondrian - Tree - 1912 - 65 x 81 cm - oil on canvas

Eight years later Mondrian is refining the challenge of spatial planes.  And he has accomplished the feeling of the tree being in space magnificently.  The was quite an accomplishment in 1912, and shows us how cubist considerations will lead Mondrian towards abstraction.

The tree is now a wonderful rhythm of curved lines and shapes or what I like to term “loops”.  Can you feel the energy and movement, not only in the tree but the surrounding space as well?

This is truly elegant, especially when we see how successfully he combined the loops with a loose or open grid, conveying the sense of the space in front of, as well as within, and behind the tree.

The grid reads as planes and Mondrian has shown how sophisticated and important spacial planes are in painting.

I’m sure he was very grateful to Cezanne