Artist Piet Mondrian - Modern Art Explained by Lillian Gray

Piet Mondrian's influence is profound, reaching well beyond the realm of painting. His contributions to abstract art, the De Stijl movement, and his innovative use of form and colour have profoundly impacted the art world, design, architecture, and popular culture.
But why? Do you really understand the philosophy behind his art?
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
02:57 The Story of Mondrian
04:31 Cubism's influence on Mondrian
05:45 World War I
06:18 De Stijl
09:34 World War II
11:07 Mondrian traveling
12:21 Broadway Boogie Woogie
12:43 Piet Mondrian’s Painting Technique
14:36 Piet Mondrian’s massive influence
16:33Conclusion

[@IsabellaMorris-xp7ot]

What a great lesson on Mondrian! Look forward to sharing it with my homeschool students, who are desperate for some art lessons.

[@bilaalessop1983]

Very very insightful and educational. You've taught me so much. Now I know so much about an art style that we have all seen so many times.

[@LillianGrayArt]

Thank you. I am so delighted that you learnt so much.

[@LillianGrayArt]

Hello Bilaalessop. You are our monthly KZbin Winner of a small original Lillian Gray Painting. Please contact us with your address so we can post your prize. [e-mail]

[@abiodunslymon9862]

This is so beautiful to watch and learn from, thank you for taking your time out to create this.

[@LillianGrayArt]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@afenigrace6712]

So well done. Thank you! Learned a lot.

[@JayJay-wg5ex]

Using this for homeschooling thanks!

[@adellejansenvanrensburg9933]

This was so fun to watch with my daughter! We understand modern art a bit more now thank you!

[@LillianGrayArt]

I'm so glad!

[@woolee8504]

Thank you so much. This was very enjoyable.

[@grizeldaliebenberg1157]

I love Piet Mondrian's style and color in his artworks and how he applies that beyond his artworks. His art is absolutely stunning. Love his story. It was a wonderful and informative video, thank you so much.

[@LillianGrayArt]

Same here!

[@shamgardinowill2247]

We love you, Lillian!!! 💕💕❤❤👌 I've learnt so much. Thank u for shedding so much light on modern art style💖💖🥲

[@LillianGrayArt]

Thank you

[@jemmasander7976]

Insightful video! Mondrian's influence on art and culture is undeniable, but diving into the philosophy behind his work adds a whole new layer of appreciation. Great exploration by Lillian Gray!

[@LillianGrayArt]

Thank you Jemma

[@jayrichardson1059]

Hey Lillian! I really enjoyed this video. You've got a knack for making art history feel like a fun chat with a friend. Love how you brought Mondrian's work to life . Modern and abstract art can sometimes difficult to understand and explain to people so thank you for making it so accesible!

[@thezoobiscuit9209]

Abstract art is so interesting, love the video!

[@LillianGrayArt]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@eliwatts6908]

Masterful.

[@LillianGrayArt]

Thank you so much

[@julieferguson9735]

Fantastic video!!!!

[@LillianGrayArt]

Thank you very much!

[@marisemouton7984]

What a great video!!

[@LillianGrayArt]

Glad you liked it!

[@nlejay]

Hi Lilian, what a great Vid.... thanks for sharing...

[@LillianGrayArt]

You are so welcome!

[@sonyahofmeyr4304]

Love it, love it, love it!!!! Thank you

[@LillianGrayArt]

So glad!

[@SantaLorena]

I'm surprised you didn't go further and mention the resurgence of his style in the 1960s as a result of the Mondrian-inspired dress by Yves Saint Laurent that sparked the interest of a new generation.

[@LillianGrayArt]

Haha. I am so passionate about art history that my videos could be an hour long. I cut this video down from 30 mins. I do have an image of that dress in the video.

[@SantaLorena]

@@LillianGrayArt Don't get me wrong. I loved it. Thank you for an informative and fun video.

[@veronikadvoroznakova4452]

Thank you 🔝🤗

[@amandanel3851]

Great video!

[@LillianGrayArt]

Thanks!

[@antoinettereinecke4110]

Brilliant. I learned so much!

[@LillianGrayArt]

Thank you.

[@karavorster4682]

Great video! I enjoyed his story!!

[@LillianGrayArt]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@amandacoetzee2382]

Very interesting!!

[@LillianGrayArt]

Glad you think so!

[@nadia7hope]

Thank you that was awesome 😃

[@LillianGrayArt]

Glad you liked it!

[@DavidJohns-zw4bc]

Very informative and refreshing story!

[@LillianGrayArt]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@GradeR-Wildsidevideos]

We love ur videos 🎉❤

[@LillianGrayArt]

Thank you.

[@davidvandersterre]

I'm curious about the blackness and whiteness in the paintings. Are they just meant to depict areas and emptiness? I mean many people who "paint" (or draw) a Mondrian-style painting just squabble some straight lines and do so without much thought behind it, and then they fill some squares with the colors. But if you dig a little deeper you understand that there is actual thought behind the paintings. But I can't quite wrap around the meaning of white and black (and gray).

[@LillianGrayArt]

Great question. As far as I know Mondrian likened the black lines to a skeleton. The way muscles hang on bone structure the colour blocks anchor themselves on the black lines. So the black lines is the structure of the work. Now, where he placed these black lines exactly is complex with a lot of theory and math behind it. He placed the lines to create rhythm, balance, harmony and even disharmony. A New York curator recalled Mondrian working. She said he spent hours moving and tweaking the placement of the lines, sometimes even days. Once tape was invented he could move the lines around and tweak them before painting them. At the end of his career he left some tape on the canvas. In his final artworks the harsh black lines started bothering him and he broke them up into tiny coloured squares as well. Also using tiny ripped pieces of tape. The white squares is often used to balance a work, create breathing space or add to the rhythm of the work. So yes the lines and white squares are done with a lot of consideration and thought and quite deliberately placed by him.

[@davidvandersterre]

@LillianGrayArt I made a Mondrian-style map in a tower defense game (bloons tower defense 6), and used the victory screen as a base to determine the colored areas. So not really much beeper thought went into it further than: "the victory screen has these colors up here, and this part is mostly blue, so that'll be blue". But alas, it's a game. I'd be surprised if anyone who will play the map will even notice that the map is meant to look like an abstract version of the victory screen. I'm planning on making more of those maps. An entire series of maps, in just his style. And I'm planning on using his method, too. So that was why I asked about the black and white (and -now that I think about it- grey). If I understood correctly the colors are either meant to depict something in a very abstract manner -f.e. yellow is happiness and red is rage- or they are meant to depict the very base of the most eye-catching things in sight. Imagine when you have a picture of a red car in a garage with something that gets noticed quickly, let's say robot arms, the car would be a red rectangle with blue at the spots of the robot arms. And probably with some white in-between. So basically the second explanation is a picture overly simplified with only the main subject(s) in sight and the rest (irrelevant "noise") in the picture is either white or black. By the way if you're curious the map is simply called "Mondrian 1" and is available in the content browser of the game. I had to determine the title for the map, and of course I wanted to allow people to find it easily. "De Stijl" (or even the English version "The Style") would probably be too confusing for most people (because pretty much no gamer is artistically educated nowadays). "Piet Mondrian" is a little long of a title and I'm not even sure people knew his lordly was Piet. And whenever people talk about his paintings, you always just hear "it's a Mondrian". So that's probably the most simple I could've gone (true Mondrian-style 😏).

[@wynandrabe5292]

Hitler rejected from art school. The irony. Hahaha...

[@LillianGrayArt]

Exactly! hahaha

[@antshield]

Just found your channel. Loved this video! What an amazing artist! 🟥 🟦 ⬜️ 🟨

[@LillianGrayArt]

Thank you