Mondrian and LeGrand 

This tableau is a mix of duotone stipple engravings by Pierre Francois Legrand (1743 Parijs - 1824 Parijs) after Gerard van Spaendonck (Tilburg 1746 – Parijs 1822) alternated with chrysanthemums painted by Piet Mondriaan (1872 Amersfoort  - 1944 New York) and botanics of lesser-known artists like; Walter Hood Fitch, Andringa and Carel Adolph Lion.


Mondrian is well known for his abstract painting but he created more than a hundred pictures of flowers. Mondrian mainly depicted cultivated species such as chrysanthemums or amaryllis, which betrays his interest in 'modern nature'. Reflecting years later on his attraction to the subject, he wrote, “I enjoyed painting flowers, not bouquets, but a single flower at a time, in order that I might better express its plastic structure”


Source: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

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