|
Piet Mondrian's Place de la Concorde
Piet Mondrian’s neo-plasticism painting, Place de la Concorde, provides a great example of the postmodern in
non-representational art. The title of the painting comes from a place in Paris. Piet Mondrian was not the only
artist to have painted this legendary intersection in the heart of Paris. Pierre Bonnard and Edgar Degas also
painted Place de la Concorde. However, Degas and Bonnard utilized verisimilitude in their work (their
art was representational – that is very similar to what is really there), but Mondrian chose to paint the
intersection in a non-representational manner. Because Place de la Concorde is a famous intersection
in Paris and has a long history, Mondrian must have seen his audience as being one equipped with the necessary
warrants to make the connection between the title of the work and the non-representational quality of the
artwork itself.
Mondrian’s Place de la Concorde is made up of black lines that create different sections
on the canvas and these sections are filled in with primary colors. In the painting, Mondrian
established a dynamic balance between a system of horizontal and vertical black stripes and
yellow, red, and blue blocks of color. The black lines and the areas they enclose are not
standardized; each one has subtle differences in density and width. Although at first, the
lines appear to be random geometric boxes on canvas, closer examination reveals that Mondrian
had a method to his madness. His linear network creates an animated pattern of irregular
sequences that makes the painting appear to be pulsing at the viewer.
There is a strangeness and beauty to the simplicity of Place de la Concorde.
The painting compels the viewer to use his or her imagination to see things in the
painting that aren’t there, as the pulsing rhythm of the painting seems to pull the
viewer into the canvas. The title of the painting gives meaning to the vertical
and horizontal lines of color. The French philosopher, Michel Foucault contends
that language is the center of all things and Mondrian plays on the dynamic
between the signified and the signifier in the painting. Place de la Concorde
conjures up images of the guillotine, of ten thousand Renault Le Cars racing by at sixty
miles per hour, of people racing across the intersection to get to the other side.
As the viewer thinks of all of the madness that might occur at Place de la Concorde,
he or she then sees a geometric simplicity and balance that seems to pulse with the very
energy of Paris itself.
Mondrian saw Place de la Concorde as being ephemeral architecture, so he painted
Place de la Concorde as non-representational art. When one looks back on the
history of Place de la Concorde, from its beginnings in 1754 to house an
equestrian statue of Louis XV to Millennium Square during the Y2K celebration,
Place de la Concorde has dramatically changed throughout the ages. During
the time of the guillotine, when it was known as Bloody Square, the smell of blood
was said to be so bad that a herd of cattle would not cross it. Each time there was
a new revolution in France, Place de la Concorde changed ownership and its
name was changed to reflect the new power structure that was in place. Piet Mondrian
painted Place de la Concorde sometime during the German occupation of France.
During this time period, Nazi propaganda probably was the décor of the day. Given
the history of Place de la Concorde and how it has changed over time, an
abstract non-representational painting would, ironically enough, be the best
representation of the place itself, allowing the viewer to impose his or her
gaze upon the artwork and define what the essence of Place de la Concorde
means to them, whether it be the distant drums of social revolution, the smell of
blood as it resonates from the guillotine or the charismatic speech of a new
social order coming into power.
Dallas Museum of Art owns Place de la Concorde. Images can be found at that site or in many places on the internet.
Image
William Matthew McCarter holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies and a Master's in Liberal Arts. He is currently enrolled
in a PhD program at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has published his work in both tradition print magazines and online publications.
His most recent publications have been in Wilmington Blues and The Indite Circle.
Email: William Matthew McCarter
Return to Table of Contents
|