Landscape at Loosduinen

Although Mondrian is best known for his De Stijl paintings and as a founder of modern, abstract art, he began as a landscape and figurative artist. Between 1897 and 1907, he executed about fifty landscapes each year, comprising nearly half of his entire oeuvre. In 1905, a large exhibition of Vincent van Gogh’s work was held at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The spindly, bare trees, low horizon, and the lone peasant in Landscape at Loosduinen reveal the influence of the Dutch master upon Mondrian. The drawing’s degree of finish suggests that it was either done on commission or intended for exhibition and sale.