Moored ships Sun 1899

Piet Mondrian created "Moored Ships Sun" using oil on canvas. Mondrian painted this scene in the Netherlands, a country whose economy and culture have long been intertwined with its waterways. Here we see fishing boats, perhaps, rendered in dark, earthy tones, reflecting the somber mood that pervaded Europe in the early 20th century. Mondrian’s art reflects the shift in European intellectual life towards abstraction, but it also carries the weight of social and political change. What do the dark colors and the abstracted forms tell us about Mondrian’s state of mind, about the culture and institutions in which he worked? Did the artist’s later turn to bold lines and primary colors represent a rejection of the past? To answer these questions, we turn to historical documents, social theory, and institutional records. The meaning of art lies not just in the work itself but in the world around it.