Customer Reviews

He liked to dance boogie-woogie in New York ... - By: FrizzText, 20 Jan 2006
"It is proper to the way of living," the man of letters Jean Paul noticed, "that one is polite also against himself ". However, Mondrian painted manically compulsively out of a fear against the chaos of the world daily. Although it did not feed him, he could not quit this activity, he continued to work, got a pneumoniain that cold New York winter [slaving awayin the unheated studio for three days non-stop] & died before he could finish his "victory Broadway boogie-woogie" painting. A tribute to the city of New York which on the other hand almost let him starve, the money at least did not reach for having the heating on. Nevertheless he loved this town full of jazz, dance & boogie-woogie (he liked to dance there). His paintings are telling a tribute to this pulsating, dynamic Big Apple. Burst from the desert of the Dutch landscape,in saved to the liver Paris, escaping the racial world of the Nazis - like many other artists did. While however painters like Max Beckmann were getting a university-chair offeredin New York, this luck did not fall to Mondrian. With an astonishing optimistic colour joy he managed to compensate the real sadness. His last work, Broadway boogie-woogie almost works like a city centre Map: Horizontally numbered the Avenues streets -- only the slash of Broadway breaking out of this grid is missing vertical. One is filled with consternation occasionally, out of which suffering art can arise. Mondrian may have been assessed compulsion neurotically -- however if he could set such harmonious works against this hell -- his compositions against the chaos of the world are fascinating forever. The effort must be done - though it has been a hard life for Mondrian ...