GERRIT THOMAS RIETVELD (1888-1964)

Rietveld’s reductive design for a hanging lamp, a form that was used in several of his interiors of the early 1920s, expresses the purity and rigour of the De Stijl minimalism to absolute effect, and endures as one of the architect’s masterpieces. Due to the differing voltage systems then used in the Netherlands, Rietveld conceived of different versions of the lamp, with up to four tube lights, to correctly regulate the electricity. This drawing, which sketches out in detail the proportions and components of the lamp, is a version conceived for a power source of 220 volts (for details, see: P. Voge, The complete Rietveld furniture, Rotterdam, 1993, p.56)