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
The painting reproduced here is Piet Mondrian's Tableau II, dated 1921, and is distinct from the similarly numbered 1922 Guggenheim painting. Its narrow red band runs along the upper left. A broad dark area interrupts the middle right; blue occupies the lower-left corner, and a strip of yellow rises at the right edge. RKD, the Netherlands Institute for Art History, identifies the pictured work as B129, an oil painting on canvas measuring 101 × 99 cm. Its catalogue record places the original in a private collection and records a loan to Kunsthaus Zürich. The documented title is Tableau II; Composition II is a looser English search label that can refer to other paintings too.[1][2]
At a glance
- ArtistPiet Mondrian (Piet Mondriaan, 1872–1944)
- Documented titleTableau II
- Expanded catalogue titleTableau II, with Red, Black, Yellow, Blue, and Light Blue
- DateDated 1921, including the inscription “PM 21”
- Catalogue identityRKD B129, image record 274162
- Medium and sizeOil on canvas, 101 × 99 cm
- CollectionPrivate collection, record number 1984/69; RKD records a loan to Kunsthaus Zürich since 1972[1][2]
Tableau II among Mondrian's abstract compositions
Composition A (Rome)
1919–20Contents
- What does the painting show?
- How do the lines and colours work together?
- Why is it called Tableau II rather than Composition II?
- What is known about its ownership and exhibitions?
- Is it the Guggenheim's 1922 Composition II?
What does the painting show?
The picture is almost square, although RKD describes its 101 × 99 cm format as a vertical rectangle. Mondrian uses black bars of different lengths and thicknesses to divide the surface. One vertical rises from the lower area to separate the left-hand whites from the pale upper-right field. Another, near the right edge, makes the yellow strip narrow and tall. Horizontal lines stop and start at different points rather than turning the canvas into a uniform checkerboard.
 The Red Tree Piet Mondrian.jpg)
The red band is unusually thin for such a prominent colour. It caps the upper-left area and ends at the long inner vertical. Below it, two pale fields are divided by a horizontal line. On the right, the largest pale area fills much of the upper half. The black block below it is long and low, running toward the yellow edge. At the bottom left sits a compact blue field; the lower centre and right return to pale tones. The printed image includes generous white margins outside the painted square, so the page's white surroundings should not be mistaken for additional parts of Mondrian's canvas.
The expanded title recorded in the 1998 catalogue raisonné names red, black, yellow, blue and light blue. That last colour can be difficult to distinguish from white in a small or uneven reproduction. The composition's interest is not only its familiar primary-colour accents: light fields of different sizes and tones create the distance between the red, blue, yellow and black. RKD's object record supplies the expanded title through its bibliography; the present visual description concerns the image on this page.[1]
How do the lines and colours work together?
The top red strip and the lower-left blue form a diagonal relationship, yet neither mirrors the other. Red is shallow and wide, blue deeper and narrower. Yellow is pushed to the opposite outer edge, where it forms a vertical counterweight. The large black rectangle carries much more visual mass than the thinner bars around it. As the eye moves from red down to blue, or across the black area toward yellow, the white and light-blue fields change in scale.
Several lines extend into the edge of the picture while others stop at another black bar. The strong vertical near the centre does not divide the work into equal halves: the fields to its right and left have different widths and internal breaks. The lower horizontal is also interrupted by the shape of the blue area. These unequal intervals make the image recognisable even among Mondrian's many compositions from the early 1920s. Describing their visible effect does not require a claim that the artist used an exact mathematical formula; RKD does not assign one to this object.
The painting is an example of Mondrian's mature abstract vocabulary, but its particular balance depends on this layout. It is easy to reduce his work to a recipe of black grid, white ground and three primary colours. Here the thinness of red, the weight of the black middle field, the lower blue corner and the tall yellow edge distinguish B129 from another painting made with similar elements.
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Watch on YouTubeWhy is it called Tableau II rather than Composition II?
RKD's object record gives the title Tableau II. The reverse of the original is inscribed “HAUT P. MONDRIAN TABLEAU II”, according to RKD; “haut” marks the top. The front is monogrammed and dated “PM 21” in white on black at the lower right. These recorded inscriptions provide unusually direct evidence for both the orientation and the numbered title.[1]
Exhibition and book titles have varied. A 1922 Amsterdam exhibition listed it as Tableau II, while a 1963 New York show called it Large Composition, 1921. The 1994–96 catalogue used the longer descriptive title Tableau II; Composition with Red, Black, Yellow, Blue, and Light Blue. Such changes explain why a broad search for “Mondrian Composition II” can return several different paintings. The image and catalogue number identify the work more reliably than the short English phrase “Composition II”.[1]
What is known about its ownership and exhibitions?
RKD's provenance begins with Sal Slijper in Blaricum, dated 1922 to about 1948. Its next recorded stop is Sidney Janis Gallery in New York from about 1948. The same entry subsequently names Mr and Mrs Armand P. Bartos, Harold Diamond, Galerie Beyeler in Basel in 1964–65, and a private collection from 1965. RKD describes the latter as lending the painting to Kunsthaus Zürich since 1972. This is a catalogue trail; it should not be read as proof that the painting is on view in Zürich today.[1]
The work was already listed in the 1922 Hollandsche Kunstenaarskring exhibition at Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum. RKD also records its appearance in the 1963 Sidney Janis Gallery show, Mondrian retrospectives in Toronto, Philadelphia and The Hague in 1966, Berlin in 1968, and the 1994–96 survey that travelled from The Hague to Washington and New York. The record shows how the same canvas circulated under different titles. For a visitor, a current display check is still necessary; historic exhibitions and long-term loan records do not establish present gallery placement.[1]
Is it the Guggenheim's 1922 Composition II?
No. The Guggenheim's work is Tableau 2 of 1922, accession 51.1309, identified by RKD as B146. In that picture, the colour blocks and bars have a different arrangement. Its museum record cannot supply the date, dimensions or collection for the image shown here. The present picture is the 1921 B129 Tableau II, in a private collection. The similar numerals “II” and “2” do not make them the same canvas.[1][3][4]
Nor is this the site's separate 1929 Composition II in Belgrade, catalogued as B212, or the 1930 Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow in Zürich, B217. Those pages describe different objects. Keeping the year, catalogue number and collection together lets readers compare the works without merging their histories.
Mondrian artworks directory
Frequently asked questions
When did Mondrian paint the Tableau II shown here?
RKD dates B129 to 1921 and records the inscription “PM 21” on the painting.[1]
What is its size and medium?
It is oil on canvas, 101 × 99 cm, according to RKD.[1]
Where is the original painting?
RKD lists a private collection and a loan to Kunsthaus Zürich since 1972. That is a collection and loan record, not a confirmation of current display.[1]
Why does this page say Composition II?
Is this the Guggenheim's 1922 Tableau 2?
Discussion
Does the narrow red strip or the broad black middle field first hold your attention?
Reader Insights
Follow the black bars from the upper red strip to the lower blue and right yellow. Where does your eye stop?
Which pale field best separates the red, black, blue and yellow areas?
How does the 1921 Tableau II B129 differ from the separately catalogued 1929 Composition II in Belgrade?
Join the Conversation
Share what you notice in this painting below.
References
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, Tableau II, object record 274162: title, date, medium, dimensions, inscriptions, provenance, exhibitions and catalogue literature. View source.
- RKD, Mondrian catalogue raisonné, Paris 1920–21, entry B129 and image. View source.
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Tableau 2, 1922, object 51.1309. View source.
- RKD, Mondrian catalogue raisonné, Paris 1922–23, entry B146 and image. View source.
- Lead image credit. Piet Mondrian, Tableau II, dated 1921, oil on canvas, 101 × 99 cm, RKD B129; private collection.
