De Stijl Art Guide: The History and Influence of De Stijl

Dutch for “the style,” De Stijl is an art movement founded in the city of Leiden in the Netherlands. From 1917 to 1931, De Stijl, also known as neoplasticism, was a famous modern art form that valued abstraction and simplicity. Clean lines, right angles, and primary colors characterized this aesthetic and art movement expressed via architecture and paintings.

Dutch artist and critic Theo van Doesburg chronicled the ethos and creations of this art movement in his critical journal, also known as De Stijl. The style was a form of artistic expression and a school of thought, one shared by a core group of artists and architects, including Piet Mondrian, J. J. P. Oud, Bart van der Leck, Georges Vantongerloo, Vilmos Huszár, Gerrit Rietveld, Robert van 't Hoff, and Cornelis van Eesteren, among others.

Though a short-lived movement, the avant-garde De Stijl had an outsized influence on abstract art, architecture, and modern art.

• The De Stijl art group: Dutch artist and critic Theo van Doesburg encountered Mondrian’s work and saw in it the potential to jump-start a new art movement for a new world post-World War I. The two connected at an art exhibition in Amsterdam, then formed the De Stijl art group, journal, and circle of peers. Cubism, Malevich's Suprematism, and the works of Frank Lloyd Wright all influenced De Stijl.
• New plastic: Mondrian laid the groundwork for the movement in his essay “Neo-Plasticism in Pictorial Art.” Neoplasticism—“nieuwe beelding” in Dutch, meaning “new art” or “new plastic art”—practiced purity in color and simplicity in form. Through neoplasticism, Mondrian argued that art is not meant to represent everyday scenes or objects (as in realism or still life) but is instead a vehicle to highlight absolutes.
• Disbandment: In 1921, the artists and ethos composing De Stijl started to shift. Van Doesburg began straying from the tight guidelines of the style, weaving in Dada influences and practicing constructivism—artistic movements that some did not feel matched the spirit of De Stijl. In 1924, Mondrian left the group of artists once Van Doesburg embraced elementarism and diagonal lines. The group’s tenor changed, and the style disbanded altogether in 1931 when Van Doesburg passed away. Without a central figure, the movement faded.
• Influence: De Stijl inspired the Bauhaus style and the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, featuring straight lines and simple colors. Architects working in the international style were also influenced by De Stijl. The movement also inspired typography and decorative arts, including furniture design.

De Stijl artwork stands out through its use of primary colors, horizontal and vertical lines, squares, and rectangles within the genre of modernism.

1. 1. Straight lines: De Stijl art features clean and straight vertical and horizontal lines that intersect to form right angles.
2. 2. Primary colors: De Stijl artists used primary colors—red, yellow, and blue—plus black and white. These colors do not touch or blend, and straight lines typically divide the colors.
3. 3. Thick strokes: The straight lines in De Stijl artworks are typically black lines in thick strokes to accentuate the division between colors and boxes.
4. 4. Geometric forms: Rectangle and square boxes are standard fixtures of the De Stijl movement. Simple geometric forms were motifs in many pieces, which echoes in De Stijl-influenced architecture. Buildings resembling boxes with various compartments exemplify this art movement.

Several artists helped define the De Stijl movement:

1. 1. Red and Blue Chair by Gerrit Rietveld (1917): Gerrit Rietveld’s Red and Blue Chair features a square seat and rectangular back, legs, and handles that reflect the geometric forms of De Stijl. Red and Blue Chair is permanently housed at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York and is one of the art movement’s first three-dimensional pieces.
2. 2. Rietveld Schröder House by Gerrit Rietveld (1924): Rietveld also made a name for himself as an architect, designing the Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht, Holland, for a Dutch socialite and her three children. It was commissioned to be a home without walls, and the open space features right angles created by horizontal and vertical lines, as well as the primary colors characteristic of De Stijl.
3. 3. Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red by Piet Mondrian (c.1937–1942): Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red exemplifies the movement’s primary colors and geometric shapes. The seminal piece is part of the Tate Modern’s collection in London.
4. 4. 1928 Summer Olympic Stadium by Jan Wils (1928): Dutch architect Jan Wils was a founding member of the De Stijl movement and is most noted for designing the Olympic Stadium at Amsterdam’s 1928 Summer Olympics. For that seminal work, Wils won a gold medal in the Olympic art competition.
5. 5. Composition No. 15 by Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart (1925): German artist Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart led a cosmopolitan career and belonged to artistic groups in different nations (most notably in Paris) while maintaining a steadfast commitment to abstract art. In Composition No. 15, which is currently housed at the Tate Modern in London, Vordemberge-Gildewart exuded many of De Stijl’s defining characteristics: straight lines, quadrilaterals, and the use of simple colors. However, Vordemberge-Gildewart’s work is more playful than other De Stijl paintings. He includes a circle in this composition, and the colors used are indeed primary ones but are blended with other hues to make the colors less saturated.

Grab the MasterClass Annual Membership and plumb the depths of your creativity with the help of abstract artist Futura, modern artist Jeff Koons, and stage designer Es Devlin. Our exclusive video lessons will teach you to do things like utilize color and scale, explore the beauty in everyday objects, and so much more.