Fritz Glarner first met Piet Mondrian in Paris in 1927. They stayed in regular contact throughout the 1930s and Mondrian's influence is distinct right from the outset in Glarner's purely geometric compositions (later called Relational Paintings). The basic element of these works is a network of rectangles, broken up by many gradations of grey between white and black; with red, yellow and blue accents. Like Mondrian, Glarner frequently used the colour grey in these paintings: acting as a neutral base it strengthened the impact of the colours around it and was sufficiently versatile to adapt to different environments.

The organisation of space which so fascinated the artist was also evident in his celebrated design for Rockerfeller's dining-room (see fig. 1). Here Glarner successfully transcribed his pictorial vocabulary to a project on a grand scale.

Glarner painted his first Tondos in 1943 which added an extra dimension to his art. He employed two contrasting formats simultaneously - the concentric circle and within that a network of horizontal and vertical lines. "To Glarner the circle is the most powerful symbolic shape ever found by man. Closed upon itself, it is at the same time open in all directions... With the Tondo, Glarner enriches his Relational Paintings with.. dynamization, this time derived from picture boundaries" (Fritz Glarner, exh. cat., Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, 1972).

Glarner's Tondos are considered his most important works and are housed in major collections in America, his adopted home, and Europe.