 Piet Mondrian.jpg)
by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on September 28, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
About the painting
Piet Mondrian's Chrysanthemum C47 places a large blue-gray flower on a long, fine stalk against a glowing orange-brown ground. The blossom nearly touches the top of the tall canvas. Its many curved petals form a crowded head, while a few lower petals hang free and a group of lobed leaves spreads near the bottom. RKD lists the work as c. 1906–1907, the date reflected in this page's address, and its image matches the painting shown here.[1]
The date is approximate, not settled. A later Christie's record identifies the painting explicitly as catalogue C47, oil on canvas, 50.5 × 35.2 cm. It records published dates ranging from about 1906 to 1908 and notes that Joop Joosten did not assign a precise year in the 1998 catalogue raisonné. The same sale history places the work in private hands after earlier ownership in Dallas; it is not the separate, paler Chrysanthemum C46 in the Cleveland Museum of Art.[2][1][4]
At a glance
- ArtistPiet Mondrian (Piet Mondriaan, 1872–1944)
- TitleChrysanthemum
- Datec. 1906–1907 in RKD; other dates have been proposed
- MediumOil on canvas
- Dimensions50.5 × 35.2 cm (height × width)
- Catalogue raisonnéC47
- Ownership evidencePrivately owned in the later Christie's provenance; no named present owner established by the cited records[1][2]
Where the C47 flower sits among Mondrian's works
Chrysanthemum, Cleveland (C46)
1906–42?Chrysanthemum (C47)
c. 1906–07, disputedEvening: The Red Tree
1908–10Gray Tree
1911Contents
- What does this Chrysanthemum show?
- Why is its date uncertain?
- How is C47 different from Cleveland's C46?
- What is known about its ownership?
What does this Chrysanthemum show?
The painting is conspicuously taller than it is wide. Mondrian places the flower head in the upper third, then allows the stem to run down through an open stretch of warm background. Broad leaves gather at the bottom, some extending toward the lower corners. The empty space between blossom and leaves makes the plant look both delicate and upright. It also gives the viewer a clear path through the image, from densely worked petals to thin stalk to large leaf shapes.
 The Red Tree Piet Mondrian.jpg)
The petals have a pale blue-white cast, edged with darker lines. They do not form a perfect circle. Some curl back, others droop, and the central mass appears tightly packed. The description of a flower at full bloom can coexist with these hanging petals: the image captures a complicated natural form, not a diagram of an ideal blossom. Christie's highlights the fine outlines and the contrast between the cool flower and its warm ground.[2]
The background changes tone rather than remaining a flat orange sheet. Lighter gold surrounds the head; browner passages appear beside the stalk and leaves. These shifts make the flower's cool colors stand out. There is no vase, table or wider garden. The single stem is the subject. Mondrian gives the bloom the scale normally reserved for a portrait head and lets the rest of the plant occupy the long vertical field.
The leaves are broad and angular compared with the fine curls above. At the base, their blue-green planes overlap and extend beyond the lower picture edge. The composition therefore feels cropped: the plant continues outside the frame, while the upper blossom is contained. This balance between detailed flower and open lower space is distinctive to C47 and helps identify it among Mondrian's many pictures of chrysanthemums.
Why is its date uncertain?
RKD's digital catalogue gives c. 1906–1907 for C47. Christie's 2016 object record documents a longer history of proposed dates: Michel Seuphor used c. 1906; Maria Grazia Ottolenghi used 1907; Ann Mongan and David Shapiro placed it around 1906–08. Labels at several twentieth-century exhibitions used 1908 or 1909, while a 1991 exhibition even labeled it “1920s.” These are different assessments of the same identified painting, not different versions sharing one title.[1][2]
The auction record says Joop Joosten included C47 in the 1998 catalogue of works after 1911 without specifying an execution year. Christie's also relays Joosten's caution that some flower works placed in the later group might have been dated too late. That uncertainty helps explain why the online RKD list's approximate early date and the printed catalogue's grouping appear to pull in different directions. Neither an index heading nor a conventional page title can settle the chronology by itself.[2]
Mondrian returned to single flowers even as his art changed. Christie's connects that long practice with the difficulty of dating individual examples. The painting itself makes an early date plausible to some scholars, but appearance alone does not prove it. The most useful short form for a reader is “c. 1906–1907 according to RKD; exact date debated.” This lets the site preserve the established route while making the evidence transparent.[1][2]
Watch: Piet Mondrian
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Piet Mondrian: Abstract Painting as We Know It
Curator Michael White explores the paintings and Mondrian’s studio as an abstract space.
Watch on YouTubeHow is C47 different from Cleveland's C46?
The site's separate Cleveland Chrysanthemum article shows C46, a nearly square canvas with a pale yellow-green bloom and leaves rising beneath it. C47 is narrower and taller, with blue-gray petals, a longer stem and orange-brown ground. RKD lists the two paintings on adjacent catalogue lines and names the Cleveland Museum of Art only for C46.[1][4]
The material happens to be the same—oil on canvas—but the measurements differ. Christie's gives 50.5 × 35.2 cm for C47. Cleveland gives 41.5 × 38.5 cm unframed for C46. Those proportions correspond to what each image shows: an elongated plant in C47, a fuller head within a squarer field in C46. A shared flower name is not a reason to exchange their dimensions, collection histories or dates.[2][4]
Cleveland's own date discussion is also specific to C46. It says the 1906 inscription on that painting was added after the flower was painted and dates its execution broadly 1906–42. C47 has a separate dating debate documented by RKD and Christie's. Both pictures benefit from careful identification by catalogue number; neither should inherit the other's inscription or museum status.[1][4]
What is known about its ownership?
Christie's later provenance starts with Mondrian's estate, then Harry Holtzman, followed by Sidney Janis Gallery in New York from 1958 to 1962. James H. and Lilian B. Clark of Dallas bought the painting from that gallery in 1962. The Clark estate sold it through Christie's New York on 19 November 1998, lot 338. The subsequent record names a US private collection and then a later owner without publishing that person's identity.[2]
That history clarifies a potentially misleading collection label. RKD's index retains a Dallas/New York Janie C. Lee Master Drawings line for C47. Christie's documented 1998 and later private-ownership entries are subsequent history. Museum exhibitions in Dallas during 1962, 1965, 1978 and 1989 show that the work was displayed there at particular times; they do not make it a Dallas Museum of Art collection painting. Its current location and display status are not established by these public records.[1][2]
The 1998 Christie's record already identified the canvas as C47 and listed many of the same exhibitions. The later record adds the named Clark ownership, 1998 sale and subsequent private collection sequence. Read together, they give a traceable public history while leaving the present owner unnamed. The painting remains best identified through its catalogue number, tall format and exact image rather than a dealer or museum name that belonged to only one point in its history.[3][2]
Mondrian artworks directory
Frequently asked questions
When did Mondrian paint this Chrysanthemum?
What are its medium and dimensions?
Christie's records oil on canvas, 50.5 × 35.2 cm.[2]
Is this the Cleveland Museum's Chrysanthemum?
Did the Dallas Museum of Art own C47?
The public provenance documents private Dallas ownership and Dallas exhibitions, not museum ownership. The later Christie's record follows it into private collections after a 1998 sale.[2]
Where can the original be seen now?
The cited public records do not name a current owner or confirm a current display location.[2]
Discussion
Does the blue-gray blossom or the golden ground hold your eye first?
Reader Insights
Follow the long stem from the lower leaves toward the petals. Where does your eye stop?
Which curling or drooping petal becomes clearer after a second look?
How does this tall C47 flower differ from Cleveland’s squarer C46 canvas?
Join the Conversation
Share what you notice in this painting below.
References
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, Mondrian catalogue raisonné, chrysanthemum group C44–C93, including C46 and C47. View source.
- Christie's, 2016 Chrysanthemum C47 lot record, with dimensions, dating discussion, provenance, exhibitions and catalogue reference. View source.
- Christie's, 1998 Chrysanthemum C47 lot record, with medium, dimensions and historical provenance. View source.
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chrysanthemum C46, accession 1958.38, for comparison. View source.
- Lead image credit. Piet Mondrian, Chrysanthemum, RKD C47, oil on canvas, 50.5 × 35.2 cm. RKD dates it c. 1906–1907; the exact year is debated.
