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 No. IV / Composition 6 is a tall 1914 painting of short black horizontal and vertical lines, pale grey spaces and restrained pink and blue colour. A crowded network fills the middle, while isolated strokes and soft colour patches disperse toward the edges. The object shown here is RKD B46, held by Kunstmuseum Den Haag as object 0334319. The museum records it as oil on canvas, 88 × 61 cm, from the bequest of collector Salomon B. Slijper. Its muted, irregular structure belongs to Mondrian's experiments with abstraction before the bright primary-colour compositions for which he later became famous.[1][2]
At a glance
- ArtistPiet Mondrian (Piet Mondriaan, 1872–1944)
- TitleComposition No. IV / Composition 6; RKD short title Composition no. IV
- Date1914
- MediumOil on canvas
- Dimensions88 cm high × 61 cm wide
- CollectionKunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague; bequest of Salomon B. Slijper
- Object and catalogue numbersMuseum 0334319; RKD B46[1][2]
Composition No. IV among Mondrian's early abstractions
Contents
- What can you see in the painting?
- Why are the title and number important?
- Where does it fit in Mondrian's development?
What can you see in the painting?
The canvas is upright, and its central pattern is denser than its pale outer margin. Black verticals and horizontals enclose shapes of different sizes. Some marks become complete rectangular edges, but many stop short of another line. A long horizontal may run through several smaller compartments; a short vertical may end abruptly inside a grey field. The result is a network that seems carefully related without becoming a repeated grid of equal cells.
 The Red Tree Piet Mondrian.jpg)
The colour is subtle. Pink rectangles appear near the top and recur in the lower half, while cool blue-grey and warm cream lie among larger light-grey spaces. White is not merely empty area: small changes of tone allow adjacent planes to remain distinct even where there is no strong outline. The central black web keeps the eye moving, but the scattered pale colour prevents that web from becoming a single dark block. Reproductions vary, so the exact paint tones should be judged from the original rather than a small web image.
The lower-left signature, “MONDRIAN.1914.”, is visible in the existing reproduction. The painted network fades on either side and at the bottom, leaving enough open ground for those irregular edges to matter. The upper area also differs from the central cluster: a handful of black lines frame relatively large, light shapes before the pattern tightens. Follow one line downward and it will usually be interrupted; then another line invites a different route. This is an arrangement of relationships, not a puzzle with a single way through it.
At 88 × 61 cm, the original is considerably larger than the image on this page. The museum's dimensions are height by width, confirming the vertical format rather than a square canvas. Scale is useful here because the many small intervals can feel like a fine pattern on a screen, while in front of the painting they occupy a substantial upright surface.[2]
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Watch on YouTubeWhy are the title and number important?
The museum calls the painting Composition No. IV (Composition No. IV) / Composition 6. RKD shortens that to Composition no. IV and places it at B46 in its sequence of works from 1912–14. The two numbering systems in the longer museum title reflect historical ways of identifying a painting, not two different works fused into one. The museum's 0334319 object number makes the match more precise.[1][2]
Mondrian used similar numbered titles repeatedly. On the same RKD catalogue page, B44 is Tableau no. I at the Kimbell Art Museum and B45 is Tableau no. 2 at MoMA. B47 is a separate 1914 painting called Composition no. III by RKD and Composition 8 by the Guggenheim. Although B46 and B47 sit next to one another in the catalogue, their images, dimensions, owners and alternate numbers differ. The catalogue identifier and museum inventory keep this page attached to the correct upright B46 canvas.[1]
The title says nothing explicit about a depicted landscape or building. Some later descriptions of this phase link Mondrian's 1914 rectilinear works to architectural façades; another account proposes a Domburg church for this painting specifically. The museum record and RKD listing establish the object but do not name that source. It is safer to treat the black bars and coloured spaces as what is visible, without assigning individual shapes to windows or masonry. The 1911 Church Tower at Domburg is a separate painting with an identifiable tower, not a caption for B46.
Where does it fit in Mondrian's development?
A. B. Loosjes-Terpstra discussed an 88 × 61 cm Compositie no. 6 in a Dutch study of Mondrian's early abstraction; that size matches the present B46 canvas. She placed it among paintings made in Paris at the beginning of 1914 and drew attention to pink, pale blue and light grey passages that become fainter near the edge. In her reading, this thinning pattern still has something of the inward glow of Mondrian's preceding facade paintings, even after a recognisable building has disappeared. The argument is an interpretation of style, not a claim that the pattern hides a specific facade. It gives the faded margins and quiet palette of this exact canvas a place in the period's contemporary sequence.[3][4]
RKD places B46 among his 1914 Paris-period paintings. The adjacent works show related but distinct experiments with linear structures, vertical formats and reduced colour. The 1913 Composition No. II, B42, also gathers short dark lines and quiet colours, but it is wider and has a documented source in a Geinrust farm view. The following B47, Composition 8, is narrower and has a stronger façade-like vertical emphasis. Looking across these works shows Mondrian varying the density and reach of his lines rather than following one fixed abstract formula.[1]
B46 also sits well before the fully reduced, hard-edged compositions of the 1920s. Here the black bars can be uneven and the coloured areas can feel softly embedded in the grey. A later picture such as Composition No. III, with Red, Blue, Yellow, and Black, B213 from 1929, uses far fewer large divisions and a commanding red rectangle. The comparison is useful as a change of method over fifteen years; B46 should be read on its own terms, not judged as an unfinished version of the later work.[1]
The collector history also helps locate the work. Kunstmuseum Den Haag credits Salomon B. Slijper's bequest. That is a collection credit, not proof that the painting is currently hanging in a gallery. It does mean the museum holds the original and gives a reliable object number for anyone looking for the precise painting beyond the varied English, Dutch and French renderings of its title.[2]
Mondrian artworks directory
Frequently asked questions
When was Composition No. IV / Composition 6 painted?
Where is the original?
It belongs to Kunstmuseum Den Haag in The Hague as object 0334319, credited to the Salomon B. Slijper bequest. The collection record does not establish a current display room.[2]
How large is it?
The oil canvas measures 88 cm high by 61 cm wide according to the museum.[2]
Is Composition 6 a separate painting from Composition No. IV?
Is it the same as Composition 8?
No. Composition 8 is the separate 1914 Guggenheim canvas B47; the work here is Kunstmuseum Den Haag's B46.[1]
Discussion
Which pale field or short black line first catches your attention in the dense centre?
Reader Insights
Follow a black bar until it stops inside the grey ground. What changes at that point?
Do the quiet pink or blue-grey areas make the line network feel more open?
How does this upright B46 differ from the adjacent 1914 Composition 8 (B47)?
Join the Conversation
Share what you notice in this painting below.
References
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, digital Mondrian catalogue raisonné, Paris 1912–14, listing B46 Composition no. IV at Kunstmuseum Den Haag and adjacent B42–B47 works. View source.
- Kunstmuseum Den Haag, collection record for Composition No. IV / Composition 6, object 0334319, with date, dimensions, medium and Slijper bequest. View source.
- A. B. Loosjes-Terpstra, Moderne kunst in Nederland 1900–1914, “Het werk,” p. 162, discussing Compositie no. 6 and its pale colours and softened edges. View source.
- A. B. Loosjes-Terpstra, list of illustrations, no. 142, identifying the 1914 Compositie no. 6 as an 88 × 61 cm oil canvas. View source.
- Lead image credit. Piet Mondrian, Composition No. IV / Composition 6, 1914, oil on canvas, 88 × 61 cm, RKD B46; Kunstmuseum Den Haag 0334319, Salomon B. Slijper bequest.
