Piet Mondrian (1872-1944)

The present work is one of 15 versions of a farmstead setting which Mondrian executed using watercolors (3), charcoal (4) and oil paint (8) from circa 1902 to circa 1906 located “after one passes the Oostzijdse Mill with the village of Abcoude to one’s rear.” Seven were executed viewing the location close to the Oostzijdse Mill (Welsh, nos. A347, A428-A433) while “the eight other versions depict it from the opposite direction with the mill out of view at the right” (Welsh, nos. A345-A346, A434-A439). Because the present work is an oil sketch painted on board, Robert P. Welsh believed it to be executed in situ. The depiction of these works vary considerably in their time of day, weather and light conditions but as Welsh has written, “[they] preclude any comparisons with the systematic serial approach of a Monet. Instead one might consider this more a variations-on-a-theme approach, as Mondrian has sometimes practiced beginning with the Polder Landscapes of circa 1900-01 and as he would continue to explore within his Cubist and Abstract periods” (op. cit., pp. 326-327).