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 Composition A spreads red, yellow, blue, grey, black and white across a nearly square canvas. Dark horizontal and vertical lines divide the colours into unequal rectangles. The arrangement feels orderly, but it is not a repeated checkerboard: narrow strips meet broad planes, and several forms run into the edges. Rome's Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea records this oil painting as Grande composizione A, dates it 1919–20, measures it 91 × 91 cm, and identifies it as inventory 5519.[1]
RKD's Mondrian catalogue identifies the same Rome painting as B105, Composition A and assigns it to 1920. The museum's broader 1919–20 date and RKD's 1920 entry are compatible ways of recording the work's making. They also correct the 1923 date formerly attached to this site's page. The local image has been checked against RKD's B105 reproduction; the page is about the Rome painting rather than another Mondrian work with a similar title.[2][1]
At a glance
- ArtistPiet Mondrian (Piet Mondriaan, 1872–1944)
- TitleComposition A; museum title Grande composizione A
- Full Italian titleGrande composizione A con nero, rosso, grigio, giallo e blu
- Date1919–20 (Rome museum); 1920 (RKD)
- MediumOil on canvas
- Dimensions91 × 91 cm
- CollectionGalleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, inventory 5519
- Catalogue raisonnéB105[1][2]
Composition A in Mondrian's early Neo-Plastic years
Contents
- What does Composition A show?
- Why does the museum date it 1919–20?
- How is Composition A related to B and C?
- Where is the painting now?
What does Composition A show?
There is no depicted person, landscape or object in Composition A. Its subject is the relationship between coloured areas and the lines that separate them. A red rectangle sits near the upper left; another red block appears lower on the left, while a thin upright red strip is pressed against the right. Yellow is spread across the upper and middle sections and reappears toward the bottom. Blue, which can look slightly violet in reproductions, occupies a large field left of centre and a number of smaller passages.
 The Red Tree Piet Mondrian.jpg)
Black areas carry substantial visual weight. One sits below the large blue field and another takes up much of the right middle. White and grey spaces relieve the darker and brighter blocks. Because these areas differ in size, the colour distribution cannot be reduced to one repeating unit. The eye moves from the large blue and yellow fields near the centre to the narrower red strips and back to the black anchors.
The lines are horizontal and vertical, yet they are not all the same length or thickness. Some divisions cross a broad stretch; others stop when they meet a neighbouring field. At the left and right edges, shapes appear cropped rather than enclosed in a complete border. The result is balanced without being mirror-symmetrical. Any claim about an exact mathematical ratio would require evidence beyond what the painting and the available object records provide.
The Galleria Nazionale's English story on Google Arts & Culture stresses the interplay of primary colours and straight horizontal and vertical lines. It presents the painting as part of Mondrian's early Neo-Plastic period, where balance depends on relationships between elements rather than the depiction of a visible scene. That is the museum's interpretation; the visible contrasts of line, colour and unequal area give a viewer a way to test it.[3]
Why does the museum date it 1919–20?
The museum's current collection record gives 1919–20, and its English story repeats the range. RKD places B105 in its 1920–21 catalogue chapter and gives 1920 as the work's date. These are not competing identities: both name the Rome museum, and both point to the same 5519 inventory. They differ in how narrowly the date is expressed.[1][2][3]
This matters because the painting belongs to the moment when Mondrian was using the vocabulary of straight lines and primary colours in increasingly direct form. The museum's story calls it an early phase of Neo-Plasticism and associates it with his return to Paris after the First World War. It says he pursued balance through the relations of horizontal and vertical, colour and non-colour. The painting's many fields make those relations active and crowded compared with some of his later, more open compositions.[3]
The site's previous 1923 date would push Composition A into a later part of that development and conflict with both the museum and RKD. Keeping the 1919–20 museum range, with RKD's 1920 entry noted, places the work alongside the related experiments it actually belongs to. It also avoids treating a year found on an unrelated reproduction or secondary page as proof for this specific canvas.
Watch: Piet Mondrian
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Watch on YouTubeHow is Composition A related to B and C?
RKD lists Composition A, B105, immediately before Composition B, B106, and Composition C, B107 in its 1920 group. The letters make a useful sequence to explore, but they are distinct objects. RKD places B105 in Rome, B106 at the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum in Ludwigshafen, and B107 at MoMA in New York. Their catalogue numbers and collection records should stay attached to their own images.[2]
The museum's full Italian title spells out the colours in this painting: black, red, grey, yellow and blue. That descriptive form helps distinguish it from the many later Mondrian works also called “Composition” and from other lettered works. The strongest identifiers remain the nearly square image, the Rome museum's 5519, and RKD B105.[1][2]
It is tempting to read the A–B–C order as a simple account of how Mondrian made one painting after another. The catalogue establishes that the three works are grouped in the period; it does not by itself prove a step-by-step studio procedure. A closer comparison should focus on what changes in each image: the number and size of fields, the way colour is distributed, and how the black lines interrupt or connect the canvas edges.
Where is the painting now?
Composition A belongs to the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome. Its current object page gives inventory 5519, oil on canvas and 91 × 91 cm. The online record establishes the collection and physical facts; it should not be read as a promise that the painting is on view every day. The museum's own current visitor information is the place to check before a trip.[1]
The museum's English online story presents the work as an important early Neo-Plastic composition. Its language about a first Neo-Plastic work is an institutional interpretation, while the object record gives the firmer facts of title, date, medium, dimensions and inventory. Reading both together leaves room for the painting's specific character: a dense, asymmetrical balance of unequal colour planes at a key point in Mondrian's transition.[3][1]
Mondrian artworks directory
Frequently asked questions
When did Mondrian paint Composition A?
Which museum owns it?
The painting is in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome as inventory 5519.[1]
What is its medium and size?
The museum records oil on canvas, 91 × 91 cm.[1]
Is Composition A the same as Composition B or C?
No. RKD lists them separately as B105, B106 and B107, with different collections.[2]
Why do some descriptions say 1920 rather than 1919–20?
Discussion
Which coloured rectangle catches your eye first?
Reader Insights
Follow the black divisions from upper left to lower right. Where does your eye stop?
Which smaller colour field matters more after a second look?
How does this Rome painting differ from the separately catalogued 1920 B106 Composition B?
Join the Conversation
Share what you notice in this painting below.
References
- Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Grande composizione A, inventory 5519, current collection facts. View source.
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, Mondrian catalogue raisonné, Paris 1920–21, B105 Composition A and adjacent B106–B107 entries. View source.
- Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, English Google Arts & Culture story on Grande composizione A, 1919–20. View source.
- Lead image credit. Piet Mondrian, Composition A (Grande composizione A), 1919–20, oil on canvas, RKD B105; Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, 5519.
