Cubism & Early Abstraction · 1909
The Red Tree
The Red Tree (1909) by Piet Mondrian. Its palette is led by indigo blue (#445ca1, 27%) and indigo blue (#6e7eb1, 24%), with accents of dark sienna, reddish brown and light grey. Overall the canvas is mid-toned, vivid and cool.
Color note
From about 1920 Mondrian limited himself to red, yellow and blue, plus white, black and grey, set in a grid of straight lines. In New York his color broke loose again into the small colored blocks of Broadway Boogie Woogie.
Palette
- #445ca1 MG 104 indigo blue 27.4% of canvas
- #6e7eb1 MG 103 indigo blue 24.3% of canvas
- #2e468a MG 112 dark indigo blue 19.3% of canvas
- #222036 MG 100 very dark muted blue 16.0% of canvas
- #4e1f2e MG 145 dark sienna 6.5% of canvas
- #ba826f MG 152 reddish brown 4.0% of canvas
- #b6adbe MG 213 light grey 2.6% of canvas
Color families
Blue 81%, Red 6%, Gray 4%, Brown 3%, Purple 3%
Measurements
Composition
55% of the visual weight is in the left half, 57% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.72 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 2% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 40% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.
Details
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More by Piet Mondrian
- Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930
- Broadway Boogie Woogie, 1942
- New York City, 1942
- Victory Boogie Woogie, 1942