Mondrian

The "Mondrian Machine" at ptank.com

How to use: Click anywhere on the large box to the left. It will then split into two smaller boxes. Clicking on one of the two smaller boxes will split it into two boxes as well. Repeat the process, clicking on any box you want to divide, until you are satisfied with the result. Click on Finished to place your creation in a window suitable for saving or printing. If you want to start again, click Reset.

You can also find out more about the technology behind the machine and the art that inspired it.

See prints of actual Mondrian compositions

The machine is inspired by the art of Piet Mondrian. His most recognized works use perpendicular black lines that subdivide the canvas and regions of white or primary colors (i.e., blue, red, yellow). Mondrian called this highly abstract and geometric style neoplasticism. Mondrian of course did not have access to the computer graphics technologies we have today. Nonetheless, his artistic abstractions mirror the abstractions found not only in computer graphics, but throughout computer technology: the combination of primitive elements and the subdivision of large problems into smaller subproblems. The "Mondrian Machine" is not intended to in any way trivialize the work of Mondrian, but to recognize his place in an abstract art tradition that long predates digital computer technology. To find out more about the technology used in the machine, click here.

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) began his artist career painting landscapes, but soon moved to more abstract styles. After spending time in Paris before World War I, where he was influenced by cubism, he began to develop his own style of pure abstraction. His style, which he called neoplasticism, avoided both the reproduction of real objects or even filtered perceptions of real objects (as in impressionism). He refined his neoplastistic style during the 1920's, producing the abstractions with black lines and red, blue and yellow blocks for which he is best known.

Like many European artists and musicians of the early twentieth century, Mondrian left Europe for the United States during World War II and settled in New York, where he remained until his death in 1944. The works from his New York period, including Broadway Boogie Woogie and Victory Boogie Woogie (which was unfinished when he died) took his geometric abstractions in a different direction.

Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray, is a typical example of Modrian's primary-color works. His later work Broadway Boogie Woogie is a partciular favorite of mine.

These and other books about the life and art of Piet Mondrian can be purchased at Amazon.com

Piet Mondrian : Catalogue Raisonne	Mondrian (Great Modern Masters Series) [Owned and recommended by site maintainer]	Piet Mondrian 1872-1944 : Structures in Space
Mondrian	Piet Mondrian (Masters of Art Series)	The New Art--The New Life (collected writings)

The "Mondrian Machine" uses Dynamic HTML. Dynamic HTML involves changing the attributes of HTML tags on the fly using JavaScript. Using Dynamic HTML is faster and less crash-prone than Java applets or server-side technologies like frame updates.

Piet Mondrian Resources and Links: A large collection of on-line resources, including images of paintings, biographies, and other "Mondrian machines"
Open Directory: Piet Mondriaan: Comprehensive and well-edited directory. Uses the proper Dutch spelling.
Mondrian at The Artchive: The Artchive is a large "virtual museum" site with images, essays and even patrons.
Broadway Boogie Woogie at the MoMA: A large scan of this painting brought to you by the museum that actually owns it: the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
WebMuseum: Mondrian, Piet: Article and example images.
Piet Mondrian at AbstractArt: A fast-loading site with images and links to the big names in cubism and abstract expressionism.
Mondrian and the Dialectic of Essence: A serious essay that attacks post-modernist interpretations of Mondrian's work.

There are far too many resources on the Web devoted to Mondrian for me to list them all here. However, if you would like to see your page listed here, send me an email with a link, title and description. Also please consider linking back to this page.