Farmstead along the water screened by nine tall trees

Although Robert Welsh can not identify the exact location of the setting it conforms in type many other watercolours by Mondriaan with farm settings on the Gein river. Welsh knows only one drawing, now in the Haags Gemeentemuseum in The Hague (Blok, no. 106) that represents the same setting. However, in the drawing the artist has included at the left a bend in the watercourse, where as the straight embankment in this watercolour is merely extended in front of an open field. We know from observation of Albert van de Briel, a friend of Mondriaan, that Mondriaan ended his involvement with a particular landscape series with a fairly large and detailed version in watercolour. These works are no longer sketches, but finished works of art in their own right. Mondriaan probably had a clear purpose for it in mind. The main motive of the series in general is the subtle handling of watercolours, the 'mirror imagery' of the trees reflected in the water, the emphasis on the concept of space and an acute interest in subtleties of natural light. He creates a transparent world where, although the colours are still derived from an intense observation of nature, it transcends the naturalism of the scenery.
To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist's work currently being prepared by Robert Welsh and Joop Joosten
See colour illustration