Piet Mondrian

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The Pier and Ocean works

What we have seen so far is confirmed by new paintings Piet Mondrian produces in 1914 and 1915 and in particular by the Pier and Ocean series of works culminating with Pier and Ocean 5. Although painted in a sketchy way, I consider this painting one of Mondrian’s most significant compositions and a revolutionary milestone in western art history.

With Pier and Ocean 5 Mondrian lays out the fundamental principles of a new type of plastic space which constitutes the most effective answer to the questions posed by Impressionism, Expressionism and Cubism.

The artist went to visit his family in the Netherlands in the summer of 1914 and was prevented from returning to Paris by the war, which broke out during his stay. Deprived of the brushes, paints, and canvases left in his studio in Paris, Mondrian began a series of drawings, and gouaches inspired by the sea as well as the sea interacting with a pier jutting out from the beach into the water. The latter are therefore also called Pier and Ocean.

Let us examine some of these works starting with two drawings inspired by the sea:

Fig. 1 is a drawing produced in 1914 that recalls the seascapes addressed by the artist four years earlier.

Fig. 2 is a drawing of the sea characterized by primarily horizontal and curvilinear lines with a few faint and isolated vertical elements:

We shall now examine four works belonging to the Pier and Ocean series of works:

Interestingly, the motif chosen by the painter evokes a structure similar to that of the tree, where the horizontal expansion of the branches corresponds to the horizontal extension of the sea while the vertical structure of the trunk is reminiscent of that of the pier:

With respect to the figure of the tree, however, the Cubist subject of the pier immersed in the sea reveals a more dynamic interaction between unitary element (the pier) and manifold element (the sea) than between the mutually static trunk and branches.

Nature and human artifice

Here, too, nature (the sea) appears horizontal as in works of the Expressionist period while, from the painter’s point of view, the human artifice (the pier) appears as a vertical like the mills, church towers and lighthouses.

Permanent and changeable

The artist probably saw the pier structure as a solid element, the symbol of permanence, interpenetrating with the ever-changing flow of the sea. Permanence is invoked by the spiritual with respect to the manifold aspect of nature and changeable course of life. These are issues that go beyond the particular aspect of a certain landscape which, of course, might have stimulated the artist’s inner vision. I therefore believe that the real plastic value of the Pier and Ocean series of works was drawn more from within the artist himself and the body of work he had previously done, more than by the landscape in front of him at that moment.

Fig. 3: The pier develops from the bottom-center of the composition and tends to concentrate the boundless horizontal expansion of the sea into a sort of rectangular area:

Fig. 4: The vertical pier draws the extended line of the sea horizon into a vaguely quadrangular area that is then concentrated in the upper section of Fig. 5 to become a set of quadratic shapes with one larger and more defined square proportion in the center:

In the latest version of this series of works (Fig. 6), the variegated group of squares (Fig. 5) becomes a single square expressing in itself the most balanced relationship between the opposite directions:

The horizontal expansion of the sea (the natural) and and the motion of concentration exerted by the vertical of the pier (symbol of the human artifice or as Mondrian says of the Spiritual) achieve a perfect balance within the central square proportion in Fig. 6.

The number of signs, i.e. the degree of spatial multiplicity, gradually increases from Fig. 3 to Fig. 6 and it is only in the latter that all the signs are expressed solely and exclusively through perpendicular relations.

A general symmetry governing the compositional layout can be seen in Fig. 3, 4, 5 and 6. Around the central axis of the pier (a symbolic projection of the viewer, like the tree trunk in previous works), the mutable space of the sea is transformed into one of comparatively greater order and constancy.

Let us now examine in detail Pier and Ocean 5 (Fig. 6) and explain why I consider this composition a revolutionary milestone in western art history.

Every sign expresses something different in Pier and Ocean 5 and something changes every instant. Despite its general symmetrical layout, the composition depicts a reality in a state of becoming, the reality contemplated by the Cubist painters.

The duality expressed through the relationship between vertical and horizontal, which generates the manifold space as a whole, is cancelled out in the square, where the two very different and indeed opposite things reach equivalence, i.e. assume the same value while remaining opposite. In that area, for an instant, becoming is transformed into being and duality reveals intimate unity.
The eye can linger on that point and contemplate in a more stable form what constantly changes in appearance in the surrounding space through alternation of the prevailing direction. The unstable multiplicity evoked by all the signs in the composition is transformed in the central square into a more stable unity.

The unity manifested during the first Cubist phase as a curvilinear concentration of space toward the center (Flowering Trees, 1912) and then with a more explicit external oval (Tableau 3, 1913):

becomes an internal oval (Fig. 2) and is then gradually transformed into a square suggesting unity (Fig. 6). An external and absolute unity (Tableau 3) is transformed in an internal and relative unity that now partakes of the manifold space inside which it is born (Fig. 6):

At this regard it is worth remembering what Mondrian wrote:“the compact curved line, which does not express any plastic relationship, has been replaced by straight lines in their mutual perpendicular position which expresses the purest form of relationship“.

The sign of equivalence between opposites is born inside a square and thus suggests an inner space. This square symbolizes the space of consciousness in which the endless imbalances of real life are recomposed for a moment into a more balanced synthesis. Examination of Pier and Ocean 5 reveals in fact that other areas of the composition suggest potential squares, which do not, however, attain the balance of the one in the center:

Unlike the central square, they appear unable to hold the dynamic external space and transform it into a more constant and permanent internal equilibrium. The incomplete attempts to internalize external reality evoke the moments in life when something escapes us and we cannot make the rationale of becoming our own. The central square instead expresses one of those rare moments in which we understand (internalize) the fact that everything is connected and that each thing depends on its opposite.

Illusionistic space turns into real space

Same as the vertical trunk of a tree unifies the multifarious horizontal expansion of the branches, a rectangle (Composition II, 1913) and now a square form (Pier and Ocean 5, 1915) unify an endless variety of relationships between horizontals and verticals:

The unifying function metaphorically assigned to the tree trunk gave way over a span of three years to a unity of space in itself (the square form).
A so called “realistic” or “figurative” painting, built on the illusion of a third, non existing dimension (Study of Trees I, 1912), turns into a concrete space consisting of the real two dimensions of painting (Pier and Ocean 5, 1915).

Unity of space in itself

The nature of the “landscape” that Mondrian was aiming at now appears evident. Starting from the most immediate reality, the painter no longer stopped at the particular and contingent appearance of a church façade, the sea or a starry sky but extracted the essence of all those fleeting appearances to transform them into an ideal representation of all possible landscapes.

What is a landscape essentially?

In a dynamic reality every landscape is the outcome of new and different forms of interaction between subject and object, that is, between horizontal (a symbol for Mondrian of the natural, i.e. the object) and the vertical (a symbol of the spiritual, i.e. the subject). The unifying function metaphorically assigned to the tree trunk gave way over a span of four years to a unity of space in itself:

It is, however, obvious that the consciousness can only produce partial and temporary syntheses; it clearly cannot exhaust all the possible relations with the external world. Human consciousness cannot contain within itself the totality of the world and will never be able to comprehend reality as a whole (the space of the oval). Every synthesis generated by thought is necessarily partial and temporary, and must therefore open up again to the multiform and ever-changing aspect of physical reality. This is what all sensible people do when they call their certainties into question in the light of experience. This is what philosophy has been doing for centuries, as have the arts and above all the experimental sciences.

A second square can be seen in Pier and Ocean 5 above the square that has been already identified:

Inside the second square we see a vertical segment, like the one we have in the square below, while the horizontal segment is now split into two shorter sections that extend beyond the boundary of the square to the right and left. The two small horizontal segments form two cross-shaped marks with the two vertical sides of the square. These two cross-shaped marks tell us that unity is opening up to duality.

The unitary synthesis achieved for an instant in the lower square in the form of an equivalence of opposites is broken up into a duality that then flows back toward the variety of different situations marked again by the alternating predominance of one direction or the other. The unity generated with the first square opens up to manifold space with the second square.

A dynamic unity

For Mondrian the unitary synthesis is therefore a plastic symbol of the multifarious and controversial space of reality, which can attain measure and a harmonious condition in the space of consciousness before opening up again to nature and life. This is another reason why modern painting turns abstract: how can you simultaneously represent the outer and inner world if you just look at the external appearance of things, i.e., through the so-called figurative painting?

The equivalence generated in the square suggests the possibility of establishing balance and harmony between opposites. And this holds both for the subject’s relationship with the object (the external world) and for the subject’s relationship with itself: finding equilibrium between the contradictory drives within oneself, e.g. between the uncontrollable urges of the instinctual life (the horizontal) and the action of controlling and guiding the instincts performed by the mind or spirit (the vertical). 

The spatial development observed in Pier and Ocean 5 tells us that while equilibrium can be attained, it is a dynamic equilibrium that does not necessarily last for long once achieved. The vertical rises, interpenetrates with the horizontal, and produces a balanced unitary synthesis which then opens up again to the horizontal higher up. Multiplicity transforms into unity before reverting to multiplicity. The variable becomes constant and then reverts to the mutable.

On comparing Pier and Ocean 5 (Fig. IV) with previous works we can see how the unity generated in 1915 is of a dynamic nature and no longer the static unity exemplified by the perfect circle of a plate (Fig. I – Apples, Ginger Pot and Plate on a Ledge), the trunk of a tree (Fig. II – Study of Trees 1) or a central rectangle (Fig. III – Composition II).

The unity that Mondrian strove to express is a temporary synthesis generated momentarily by the consciousness in its changing relationship with the outer and the inner worlds, not something to be attained once and for all. Establishing equilibrium between the manifold appearance of nature or the often conflicting inner impulses on the one hand and the synthesis invoked by the consciousness on the other does not mean attaining fixed points and immutable truths.
The square of Pier and Ocean 5 is not a potentially static and all-inclusive unity like the oval but a dynamic unity intrinsically linked to the manifold space in which it is born and toward which it returns a moment later:

The one becomes multiple and multiplicity reverts to unity. As mentioned, every synthesis generated by thought is necessarily partial and temporary, and must therefore open up again to the multiform and ever-changing aspect of physical reality. Moreover, Mondrian thinks of a unity which is intrinsically multiple and multiplicity which is in truth one because everything is at the same time one and multiple.

To give a concrete example: a tree looks like a small patch of green when seen from a great distance but then grows larger and reveals an increasing number of parts as we draw closer before finally displaying an enormous degree of complexity when we consider the microscopic structure of each individual leaf which becomes a small universe.

The initial green spot (we perceived as one) has become very complexed (multiple); the initial finite reality appears now infinite. If the process is reversed, the tree loses its complexity and reverts to a simple patch of green.
Depending on the positional relationship established in each case with the object observed, every single thing becomes multiple and then multiplicity concentrates again into a unity. 

What is the “true” nature and reality of a tree? Does it still make sense to paint a tree from a single viewpoint (the so-called realistic view) and claim that this is reality? How can we paint things that changes so quickly today in accordance with the changing positional relationship we establish with them? And how can we define realistic a way of painting the outer appearance of things if every single thing unveils an intrinsic endless reality? How can we simultaneously show the manifold and unitary aspect of each individual thing if not in an abstract form?

The above series of paintings inspired by the sea and a pier can be considered a sort of conspectus of Mondrian’s work between 1908 and 1915, as though the Cubist space developed at length in his studio in Paris had finally found an outlet in contact with the Dutch countryside from which it originated. When Mondrian returned to these subjects in 1915, he drew them more from within himself than from the landscape in front of him. He addressed them again in order to tie up some loose ends left in the Cubist canvases painted in Paris. In doing so, he provided a de facto summary of the work carried out between 1912 and 1914.

Objective and subjective unity

In Pier and Ocean 5 an external unity is visually translated for the first time into an internal unity. Objective unity (the oval) and subjective unity (the square) coexist in Pier and Ocean 5 and, from that moment on, all of Mondrian’s plastic space was to rest on this idea of unity (the square) as the subjective symbol of an assumed and no longer visible objective unity (the oval). On examining the three compositions below, we see how the oval dissolves and a white squared field form emerges from inside the composition:

The square proportion that the painter devised in 1915 would become a constant but constantly transforming element of all subsequent work:

As mentioned, examination of Pier and Ocean 5 reveals that other areas of the composition suggest potential squares, which do not, however, attain the balance of the one in the center. The central square suggests a fully attained equivalence of opposites in a sea of unbalanced situations where other potential squares do not reach the balanced synthesis of the square in the center:

The composition tells us that the balance between opposing drives to which we aspire in order to achieve harmony with ourselves and the outside world is possible (a fully achieved square proportion) but it is always subject to new and unforeseeable imbalances (the unachieved squares). This is what happens in life.

This dialectic between certain and uncertain, unity and multiplicity will guide all subsequent work through compositions that present a variety of square proportions intermixed with horizontal and vertical rectangles of different colors where the square proportion suggests a certain tendency toward stability and unity while the mutable rectangles reopen to unforeseeable multiplicity. Between 1920 and 1942 this dialectic between the one and the multiple will follow four basic compositional layouts.

Layout A: A square proportion is placed in unstable balance by a surrounding asymmetrical set of different sizes, proportions, and colors.
Layout B: A square emerging from the relationship between the two horizontal lines and the two vertical sides of the canvas is crossed by a vertical line:

In layout C the square is reduced in size, leaving room for three large areas nearing the proportions of squares which, however remain open and therefore appear undefined; same as in Pier and Ocean 5, with a fully achieved square and a number of unachieved squares.
In layout D, the square duplicates and remains open appearing once small in blue and once larger in red.

In all these works the square, symbol of unity, opens up to a multiplicity of mutable situations varying in size, proportion and color.

The relationship between a relatively stable equivalence of opposites and a variety of imbalanced and ever changing situations sketched out in Pier and Ocean 5 will be the guiding thread of all Mondrian’s subsequent Neoplastic compositions as we shall see in the next pages.

Reflections on existential meanings of Pier and Ocean 5

Let us return for a moment to Pier and Ocean 5 and consider some aspects of a general character:

Unity of nature and mankind

An infinite physical disproportion exists between the human dimension and that of the natural universe. In certain situations, however, they can assume equivalent value for human awareness and reach an ideal equilibrium taking into account the rationale both of mankind and of nature.

Mondrian saw the equivalence of opposites as the attainment of equilibrium and harmony between subject (the vertical which is for the artist a plastic symbol of the Spiritual) and object (the horizontal symbol of the Natural). What is the essence of the environmental question if not the search for a better balance between the “artificial nature” (concrete, metal, plastic etc.) humans generate and Nature as such? Since human beings are part of the natural universe, this essentially means trying to reach a balanced relationship with the environment reconnecting a part of Nature (mankind) with the whole of Nature.

Environmental issue

There is talk today of the Earth as one unique organism of complexity and of biological diversity to be protected. It is not only the scientific community but also religions that seek to act as interpreters of the environmental question. As I have already noted, ecology is a concrete example of the attempt to redress the balance between mankind and nature, subject and object, what manifests itself in the two-dimensional space of a canvas through the relationship between vertical and horizontal.

Body and mind

This holds both for the subject’s relationship with the object (the external world) and for the subject’s relationship with itself: finding equilibrium between the contradictory drives within oneself, e.g. between the uncontrollable urges of the instinctual life, i.e., Nature (the horizontal) and the action of controlling and guiding the instincts performed by the mind or spirit (the vertical). In some cases, reason and moral rules oppress and limit the vital impulse; in others, life turns common sense and reason upside down. How are we to get by?

An ethical message

Disharmony between body and mind; internal imbalances that end up being projected onto the external world to create friction and conflict between individuals and between individuals and their environment. Mondrian’s aesthetic space therefore also contains an ethical message calling upon us to balance the opposites and neutralize the imbalances within us before thinking about others and the world as a whole.

The human search for unity

The human search for unity (be it the idea of a God or the unifying theories of science) is always counterbalanced by the multifarious aspect of Nature and by the unforeseeable evolution of life. The infinite variety of our world may find a temporary synthesis under the unifying action of the spiritual mind which then must always necessarily open up again to the endless aspects of the world.

Every synthesis generated by thought must therefore be open to the multiform and ever-changing aspect of physical reality. This is what science constantly does. This is what every human being does when, based upon the experience, he changes his ideas of reality.

Emotional drives and ethical rules

It is worth remembering that when we talk about Nature we talk about the outer Nature and the inner Nature of mankind. For consciousness these are two virtually infinite spaces because our inner world is no less complex and elusive than the immense variety of the outer world.

The sign of equivalence between opposites (the square form) suggests to attribute one and the same value to our Nature and to what instead characterizes us as the human species, namely intellect and reason in order to avoid or minimize conflicts between emotional drives and ethical rules; internal imbalances that end up being projected onto the external world to create friction and conflict between individuals and between individuals and their environment.

How rare and precious are instead those moments in which we see and understand the reasons of both parts of ourselves, when we manage to expand the space of our consciousness to such an extent as to contemplate all the diversity present within us as a dynamic unity.

Duality disappears for an instant. We feel that we are all one and everything outside appears to be in a state of harmony because there is harmony within. Contemplating that synthesis, reveling in the instant of an eternal joy that seems to unite us with the whole (the unity symbolized by the square in Pier and Ocean 5), then opening up again to see things separate and clash with one another in the multifarious disintegrative rhythms of everyday life (the controversial space around the square unit in Pier and Ocean 5).

That idea of unity remains in the heart, a taste of universal life that is no longer revealed in the particular but of which our fleeting emotions and our constant pursuit of equilibrium are a component – albeit infinitesimal – capable of making an essential contribution to the whole.

A masterly use of form transforms an abstract composition made of small perpendicular dashes into a statement of wisdom inviting us to understand that one thing depends on the other in a dynamic  equivalence of contrary aspects that, in a static vision of rigid content, work instead to divide consciousness, separating us from ourselves and from the world.

The sky above us and the moral law within

Immanuel Kant spoke of the starry sky above and moral law within. The moral law consists in the rule that accommodates the instincts but keeps them under control. For Mondrian it is a balanced relationship between the natural urges and the control exercised by the spirit, as expressed in the sign of equivalence inside the square. The starry sky is for Kant the whole world, external reality, everything that can influence our inner balance, i.e. all the space around the square in Mondrian’s composition.

The equivalence of opposites means that morality must not be bigoted but also that the freedom is not the unbridled satisfaction of every desire. Kant defined freedom as being able to set oneself rules, i.e. being free to choose rules that are in any case necessary, both in coping with one’s inner contradictions (individual life) and in the relationship between oneself and others (social life).

Form becomes content

In interpreting the formal relations of Mondrian’s compositions, we can develop contents that speak to us about life, not in its fleeting appearances, however, but in its most intimate and authentic ways of being. Mondrian’s talent and intellectual honesty ensure that form acquires depth and reveals his intimate vision of things. With Mondrian form becomes content and aesthetics acquires an ethical value.

Pier and Ocean 5 depicts in a graphic manner ideas which will be expressed twenty-seven years later in the clearest and brightest form with Broadway Boogie Woogie, the last painting Mondrian was able to complete and a marvelous synthesis of his entire oeuvre. The Museum of Modern Art in New York City are very lucky to have both paintings in their permanent collection.

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