The Mondrian Edition Project
Over 1,700 letter to, but mostly from, Piet Mondrian have been preserved. The letters offer a still largely unknown glimpse into the artist's personal life and are an invaluable source of information about his art and network. These letters, together with Mondrian's theoretical writings, will be published online in the Mondrian Edition Project, of which Part I was launched in March 2024.
Goal
The aim of the Mondrian Edition Project is the scholarly publication of all of Piet Mondrian's letters and theoretical writings. The Mondrian Edition Project is accessible via a specially developed edition platform at www.mondrianpapers.org. In RKDimages, relevant letters will be added over time for each artwork and photograph, making the letters and theoretical writings accessible in multiple ways. From the Edition, links are created to Mondrian's artworks in RKDimages, so that the most up-to-date information per artwork is always available.
The Mondrian Edition Project
Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) is among the most important artists of the twentieth century. He played a leading role in the development from naturalistic to abstract art and was part of avant-garde networks in Amsterdam (1892-1911 / 1914-1919), Paris (1912-1914 and 1919-1938), London (1938-1940) and New York (1940-1944). His work represents a benchmark in art history, through which Mondrian influenced numerous other fields, including architecture, fashion, design and typography. Throughout his life, letter writing was one of his main ways of communicating. He must have sent many thousands of letters, postcards and telegrams to family members, colleagues, patrons, curators, collectors and friends. Of these letters, over 1.700 have survived, of which more than 700 are in the RKD's collection. The letters offer a still largely unknown glimpse into the artist's personal life and are an invaluable source of information about his time, oeuvre, views and network. Apart from letters, Mondrian also cohis ideas through dozens of theoretical writings, in which he expressed his progressive artistic and social ideals. These articles appeared in European and American avant-garde magazines and books such as De Stijl, Bauhausbücher, ABC Beiträge zum Bauen, Cercle et Carré and Transition. His estate also includes texts that remained unpublished during Mondrian's lifetime.
Project
The Mondrian Edition Project started in 2015 and is a collaboration between the RKD and the Huygens Institute, with the partners contributing to the realisation of the project from their respective (art) historical and editing expertise. In addition, RKD and Huygens collaborate with partners at home and abroad, including Kunstmuseum Den Haag, which holds and displays the largest collection of Mondrian artworks worldwide.
Funding
The first part of the Mondrian Edition Project was made possible partly due to financial support from the Gieskes Strijbis Fund and the International Music and Art Foundation. In addition, other institutions including the Municipality of The Hague, the Dioraphte Foundation, Virtutis Opus and the Jaap Harten Fund also contributed to the edition. For more information, visit www.mondrianpapers.org. New financial support is being sought to continue the project.
Description
The aim of the Mondrian Edition Project is the online publication of the complete correspondence and theoretical writings of Piet Mondrian in the original language, accompanied by an English translation. Both the letters and theoretical texts will be published annotated and illustrated, with the goal being to bridge the knowledge gap between writer and reader. In parallel with the Mondrian Edition project, Mondrian's entire oeuvre has been made accessible in RKDimages so that readers are provided with deeplinks to images and descriptions of his artworks. The preliminary research into Mondrian's correspondence also resulted in the book Mondrian and Photography: Picturing the Artist and His Work in early 2023, which brings together all of Mondrian's portrait and studio photographs.
In early 2024, the more than 330 letters from the years 1892 to June 1919 were revealed. This set of more than 300 letters by and to Mondrian covers his period of training as an artist, his first Paris period (1912-1914) and the years that followed, during which Mondrian took crucial steps in the transition from figurative to abstract art. Mondrian's earliest sketchbooks, with theoretical notes and his first theoretical texts published in De Stijl – De Nieuwe Beelding in de Schilderkunst, the Dialoog van de Nieuwe Beelding and Manifesto I of De Stijl – are also part of this publication. After 2024, the edition will be supplemented by the remaining letters, which will be edited and published in well-organised volumes.
The first part of The Mondrian Papers is a state-of-the-art digital edition and includes numerous new search options. The first part of The Mondrian Papers offers a broad view on Mondrian's early Dutch network and includes hundreds of individuals and dozens of artworks made accessible through the annotations accompanying the letters. The Dutch art scene in the years 1895-1919 and the position that Mondrian played in this are discussed in detail, as well as Mondrian's first Paris period (1912-July 1914).