A term describing the abstraction pioneered by the Dutch journal De Stijl (The Style), founded in 1917 by the painter and architect Theo van Doesburg. This international group of artists working in all mediums renounced naturalistic representation in favor of a stripped-down formal vocabulary principally consisting of straight lines, rectangular planes, and primary color. In a response to the devastation wreaked by World War I, de Stijl artists aimed to achieve a visual harmony in art that could provide a blueprint for restoring order and balance to everyday life.
de Stijl
8 examples
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Vilmos Huszár De Stijl 1917
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Bart van der Leck Untitled (1917)
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Theo van Doesburg Rhythm of a Russian Dance June 1918
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Georges Vantongerloo Construction of Volume Relations 1921
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Theo van Doesburg, Cornelis van Eesteren Contra-Construction Project (Axonometric) 1923
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Gerrit Rietveld Red Blue Chair 1918–1923
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Piet Mondrian Composition No. II, with Red and Blue 1929 (original date partly obliterated; mistakenly repainted 1925 by Mondrian)
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Gerrit Rietveld Hanging Lamp 1920