Landscape near Arnhem

This watercolor depicts a sweeping panorama of the countryside near Arnhem, in central Netherlands. The viewpoint was taken from a hill in the foreground, looking south, with the gently rolling fields receding into the valley. The city of Arnhem, with the steeple of St. Martin's Church, can be seen in the hazy distance at left. The high horizon line, the elaborately worked surface, and the pattern of light and dark planes of color are characteristic of the landscapes Mondrian made around 1900 to 1902. Applying blue and green translucent watercolors and opaque watercolors wet-into-wet, Mondrian used the aqueous tidelines to create a dreamlike landscape that emits a tranquil spirituality. Landscape near Arnhem is suggestive of the artist's writings in which he describes his "search in nature for truth" and his "need to abstract everything" until he reached "the foundations of things." The clear structuring of Landscape near Arnhem in the grid of the fields and flattened planar surfaces underscore Mondrian's early interest in the underlying foundations of nature, which he would later develop into the radical geometric abstractions for which he is renowned.