Mondrian: Windmills to Tableaux

Pictures at the Stedelijk…

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The Mill 1917

Francesco: It started from reality. He painted himself. He painted windmills. Then he began to explore the nature of beauty.

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Sirin: His modernism was about reduction. Reducing beauty to pure form.

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Francesco: Yes. To horizontal and vertical lines.

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Tableau 1938

Sirin: And pure colors. The primaries. Red, blue, yellow.

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Francesco: And yet.

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Sirin: And yet?

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Francesco: Antoni Gaudi.

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Sirin: Yes. There are no straight lines in nature.

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Francesco: So there we are.

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Voice-over

Mondrian went from the curved lines of nature to reducing them to straight lines.

Gaudi went from the straight lines of architecture to embellishing structures with curves.

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