De Stijl timeline

Piet Mondrian is Born

Pieter Cornelis Mondrian was born on March 7th 1872 in Amersvoort in central Holland and lived there for the first eight years of his life. He was... Read more

Christian Emil Marie Küpper (Theo van Doesburg) Born

Theo van Doesburg was born as Christian Emil Marie Küpper on 30 August 1883 in Utrecht as the son of the photographer Wilhelm Küpper and Henrietta... Read more

Mondrian Enters the Academy for Fine Art in Amsterdam

After a strictly Protestant upbringing, in 1892, Mondrian entered the Academy for Fine Art in Amsterdam, already qualified as a teacher. He... Read more

Mondrian's Interest in Theosophy Begins

Mondrian's art was always intimately related to his spiritual and philosophical studies. In 1908 he became interested in the theosophical movement... Read more

Mondrian Visits Netherlands; World War I Begins

We cannot know what immediate course Mondrian’s painting—as distinct from his ideas about painting—would have followed if the war had not disrupted... Read more

Theo van Doesburg Promotes De Stijl Movement

It was while reviewing an exposition for one of these magazines he wrote for, in 1915 (halfway through his two-year service in the army), that he... Read more

De Stijl Movement

After World War I there was a turning away from old forms and philosophies among architects and designers, just as there was among artists and... Read more

Volume I of De Stijl Journal Published

The De Stijl (literally, "the style") art movement was founded by the painter and architect Theo van Doesburg in Leiden in 1917. It encompassed a... Read more

Mondrian Returns to France

When the war ended in 1919, Mondrian returned to France, where he would remain until 1938. Immersed in the crucible of artistic innovation that was... Read more

Theo van Doesburg Moves to Weimar

In 1921, armed with such architectural visions (he had been talking of the fourth dimension since 1917), Van Doesburg set off for Weimar,... Read more

Theo van Doesburg Writes Brochure on Dada

Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zürich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily... Read more

Rietveld Schröder House Built

The Rietveld Schröder House (Dutch: Rietveld Schröderhuis) (also known as the Schröder House) in Utrecht was built in 1924 by Dutch architect... Read more

Theo van Doesburg Edits Mécano Magazine

The city of Leiden is where De Stijl was founded and also where van Doesburg established his short-lived art review Mécano in 1924. Here, as... Read more

Van Doesburg and Mondrian Split

The friendship between Van Doesburg and Mondrian remained strong in these years, although their primary way of communication was by letter. In 1923... Read more

Mondrian Moves to London and New York

In September 1938, Mondrian left Paris in the face of advancing fascism and moved to London. After the Netherlands were invaded and Paris fell in... Read more

Mondrian Dies

Piet Mondrian died of pneumonia on February 1, 1944 and was interred in the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. On 3 February 1944, a... Read more