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 29, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
About the drawings
Piet Mondrian's drawings range from carefully observed flowers and landscapes to quick structural studies for abstract paintings. They show the work of looking, testing and revising that is easy to miss when his career is reduced to finished grids of red, blue and yellow. The drawing pictured here is Three Chrysanthemums, catalogued by RKD as A103 and dated circa 1899–1900. It places three pale flower heads against a worked dark ground. Later sheets could take a very different form: charcoal trees broken into intersecting lines, or small pencil diagrams for the Boogie Woogie paintings. Drawings were a continuing part of Mondrian's practice, though each sheet must be identified by its own title, medium and collection record.[1][2][7]
At a glance
- Featured imageThree Chrysanthemums, circa 1899–1900, RKD A103; private collection in RKD's catalogue
- Featured mediumA 2006 Sotheby's listing, preserved by Invaluable, describes black crayon and pastel on paper, 59 × 43 cm
- Other drawing media in documented worksCharcoal, Conté crayon, black chalk, pencil and pastel on paper or paperboard
- Main usesClose studies of flowers and landscape forms; studies related to paintings; later working drawings
- Key records belowRKD, Guggenheim, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Smith College Museum of Art and MoMA[1][2][3][4][5][7]
Drawing across Mondrian's career
Three Chrysanthemums (A103)
1899–1900Gray Tree
1911Composition 8
1914Broadway Boogie Woogie
1942–43Contents
- Which drawing is shown here?
- What did Mondrian use drawing for?
- How do flower drawings differ from the later grids?
- How did drawing support the move toward abstraction?
- Did Mondrian still make drawings in New York?
- Where can you see and verify Mondrian drawings?
- Did Mondrian sketch in letters and notebooks?
Which drawing is shown here?
The page image shows three chrysanthemum blossoms. One sits high near the centre; a second leans left; the third spreads across the lower right. Stems and sparse leaves gather below them. Light touches pick out petals against a grey-black ground that is rubbed, streaked and uneven rather than painted as a flat backdrop. The three blooms differ in angle and shape, and that variety matters more than the idea of a symmetrical bouquet. The pale heads emerge from a field of dense marks, giving an everyday subject an unusually concentrated visual presence.
RKD lists Three chrysanthemums as A103, circa 1899–1900, in a private collection. An archived Sotheby's 2006 lot description carried by Invaluable identifies a work of that title, date and catalogue number as a signed black-crayon-and-pastel drawing on paper, 59 × 43 cm. It connects the drawing with the early Mondrian collector J. F. S. Esser and records an appearance at Utrecht's Kunstliefde in 1900. Those sale-catalogue details are evidence for this object, but the auction does not establish its current owner or display location.[1][2]
The catalogue number is useful because Mondrian made several similarly named chrysanthemum works. RKD's nearby A102 is Three chrysanthemum blossoms in a round pot, circa 1898–99, and A107 is another Three chrysanthemum blossoms with uncertain later dating. The blossom arrangement shown here and the A103 title should not be merged with those other objects. Readers looking for an individual chrysanthemum will also encounter later drawings such as the Guggenheim's C44, discussed below.[1][3]
What did Mondrian use drawing for?
Drawing let Mondrian isolate an aspect of a subject before deciding what a painting should do with it. A flower could be described as petals, leaves and stem, but it could also be investigated as a set of shapes and directions. A tree might begin with a recognizable trunk and branch system, then become a mesh of horizontal and vertical relations. These are different uses of a drawing. It would be misleading to call every sheet an unfinished painting, or every flower a direct study for a known canvas.
At Smith College Museum of Art, curator Aprile Gallant describes a single-chrysanthemum charcoal drawing in the collection. She explains that Mondrian made flower drawings as models for works in other media, including paintings and watercolours, while also treating each blossom as a complex visual problem. The museum's account points to dark outlines, smoky shading and the texture of the paper in that particular sheet. It is a helpful example of how drawing can be both an independent image and a step in a broader practice.[5]
The Guggenheim's Chrysanthemum, circa 1908–09, is another distinct case. The museum identifies it as Conté crayon on paperboard, 25.4 × 28.6 cm, accession 61.1589. Its essay describes Mondrian's repeated flower subjects and connects his attention to a single bloom with a search for structure. The museum quotes his later explanation that he liked painting single flowers to express their “plastic structure.” That statement can illuminate the attention given to petals and stems in the drawings, but it is not a claim that the 1899–1900 A103 sheet and the Guggenheim C44 are the same work.[3]
How do flower drawings differ from the later grids?
The subject is recognizable in the early flower sheets. In Three Chrysanthemums, separate blooms, stems and leaves occupy a space that still reads as a still life. The paper's marks create both petals and atmosphere. In a mature composition the external subject may disappear, leaving relationships among lines and colour planes. The difference is visible, but so is a continuing interest in how a small number of elements balance across a surface. That continuity should not turn the early drawing into a prediction of a later grid; it deserves to be viewed as a flower study in its own right.
Mondrian returned to flowers even while developing abstraction. The Guggenheim says he produced more than a hundred flower pictures intermittently into the mid-1920s, and Smith College's curator reports over 250 flower studies across his practice. The sources count related but differently defined groups; neither number should be read as a count of surviving drawings in one medium. The important point is the documented persistence of the motif rather than an exact lifetime total for this page.[3][5]
The site's Chrysanthemum and Chrysanthemum, 1906–1907 pages treat separate works. Their images and catalogue identities should remain distinct from the featured A103 drawing. The Amaryllis page offers another flower subject, showing how one artist could revisit plant forms without repeating an identical artistic task.
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 did drawing support the move toward abstraction?
Kunstmuseum Den Haag holds a 1913 charcoal-on-paper work titled Study trees 2: study for Tableau No. 2 / Composition No. VII, object 0557347. The museum's title directly names its relationship to a subsequent painting. The sheet is broad—roughly 66 × 82–84 cm in the museum's measurement—and differs from the tall oil painting Composition Trees 2, which is a separate 1912–13 work. Their similar names show why a source-led hub must identify the medium and object number, not just say “Trees 2.”[4]
The Guggenheim's educational account of Tableau No. 2 / Composition No. VII says Mondrian derived that painting from a tree study, then broke the subject into interlocking dark lines and subdued colour planes. The same institution describes Composition 8 as arising from studies of Parisian building façades. These examples show drawing as a route from observed trees and architecture toward paintings whose visible structure becomes increasingly important. They do not mean a photograph of one drawing can serve as an illustration of every painting from the period.[6]
Drawing was therefore part of a sequence of decisions rather than simply a preliminary outline. A charcoal study can test what to retain from a tree's branching network; an oil painting can then change scale, colour and emphasis. The site's Gray Tree, Composition 8 and Composition No. II pages show different points on that path. Each page identifies its own object, so the connection is a way to compare methods, not a claim that one drawing mechanically generated all three canvases.
Did Mondrian still make drawings in New York?
Yes. A MoMA checklist for the exhibition Mondrian: New York Studio Compositions records two 1942 charcoal studies for Broadway Boogie Woogie, each approximately 23 cm square. It also lists two smaller 1942–43 pencil working drawings for the same painting and a 1943–44 pencil working drawing for Victory Boogie Woogie. These are documentary examples of drawing near the end of his life, long after the early chrysanthemums and tree studies. The checklist's loan and gallery details describe the exhibition record of those sheets, not their present ownership or location.[7]
The late working drawings had a different visual problem from the flower sheet featured here. MoMA's record for Broadway Boogie Woogie describes the finished painting's horizontal and vertical movement, segmented colour and rhythmic intersections. A small charcoal or pencil study could test an arrangement before the artist carried it onto the much larger canvas. MoMA also records revisions within the finished painting, so a working drawing should not be treated as a complete blueprint of the final state.[7][8]
The sequence from flowers to New York diagrams does not mean Mondrian abandoned observation and then stopped experimenting. His subjects, media and ambitions changed, but the museum records show that drawing remained a way to examine relationships before, during or alongside painting. For readers interested in his final years, the Victory Boogie Woogie page follows the painting rather than reproducing an unlicensed working sheet.
Where can you see and verify Mondrian drawings?
A collection record is the safest starting point. The Guggenheim record gives medium, size and accession for its chrysanthemum. Kunstmuseum Den Haag's tree-study record distinguishes a charcoal sheet from its oil-painting namesake. Smith College Museum of Art's account explains how one charcoal flower drawing works as an image. RKD's catalogue groups the early A-series and later flower works, while the MoMA checklist documents late working drawings. None of those links alone guarantees that an object is currently on public display; museums may move works or lend them.[1][3][4][5][7]
When looking at an online reproduction, check the exact title, date, medium and inventory or catalogue number before drawing conclusions. Mondrian returned to chrysanthemums several times, and a small change in a title can mark a different sheet. An auction record can preserve useful historical information, as with the A103 Three Chrysanthemums, but a museum or RKD record should establish the basic object identity whenever available.
Did Mondrian sketch in letters and notebooks?
Drawing also enters the documentary record in unexpected places. The Mondrian Papers has identified a rough image of a sheepfold in a letter Mondrian sent to collector Sal Slijper on 2 April 1916. Its researchers note that only about a dozen of roughly 1,700 surviving letters contain sketches. Here the little image accompanies Mondrian's account of exchanging earlier paintings with the artist and dealer Simon Maris. By comparing his words, the sketch and candidate works, the researchers propose that he meant the large Sheepfold with flock of sheep (A548). The identification is an argued conclusion, not a claim that the sketch alone names the painting.[9]
This case shows a use for drawing beyond preparation for a canvas. A few strokes helped Mondrian communicate which picture he meant in a business conversation years after making it. His 1914 sketchbooks served another purpose: according to the Mondrian Papers, they contain early notes associated with his long effort to put artistic ideas into words. The drawings and the writing should be studied together when a page contains both, while keeping their different functions clear.[9][10]
RKD's digital catalogue makes the variety easier to trace. It separates early naturalistic works from the later B-numbered Cubist and abstract works, and also identifies sketchbooks and individual studies. A flower sheet, a charcoal tree study, a quick mark in a letter and a New York plan are therefore all Mondrian drawings, but they are not interchangeable kinds of evidence. The catalogue number, support, date and intended use matter more than a generic label of “sketch.”[11]
Mondrian artworks directory
Frequently asked questions
What drawing is pictured on this page?
It is Three Chrysanthemums, RKD A103, dated circa 1899–1900. The image shows three pale blooms against a dark worked ground.[1]
What is its medium and size?
Where is the featured drawing now?
RKD lists A103 in a private collection. The public catalogue does not identify a current public display location.[1]
Did Mondrian use charcoal as well as pencil?
Are all Mondrian drawings studies for paintings?
Discussion
Which part of the featured chrysanthemum drawing catches your eye first: blossoms, stems or dark ground?
Reader Insights
Follow one pale petal into the dark ground. Where does a flower detail become a shape?
How do the flower drawings and tree studies use dark and light differently?
What changes between the A103 flower sheet and the late New York working drawings?
Join the Conversation
Share what you notice in this painting below.
References
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, digital Mondrian catalogue raisonné, Amsterdam still lifes A93–A111, especially A103 Three chrysanthemums and distinct A102/A107. View source.
- Sotheby's 2006 lot description, archived by Invaluable, Three Chrysanthemums, identifying A103, black crayon and pastel on paper, dimensions, Esser collection and historic exhibition record. View archived listing.
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Chrysanthemum, circa 1908–09, Conté crayon on paperboard, accession 61.1589, with curatorial essay. View source.
- Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Study trees 2: study for Tableau No. 2 / Composition No. VII, 1913, charcoal on paper, object 0557347. View source.
- Smith College Museum of Art, curator Aprile Gallant on the museum's charcoal Chrysanthemum drawing and flower studies. View source.
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, teaching material on Mondrian's tree study, Tableau No. 2 / Composition No. VII and façade-derived Composition 8. View source.
- The Museum of Modern Art, Mondrian: New York Studio Compositions checklist, documenting 1942–44 charcoal and pencil working drawings. View source.
- The Museum of Modern Art, collection record and conservation account for Broadway Boogie Woogie, 1942–43. View source.
- The Mondrian Papers, Wietse Coppes, “A letter with a sketch of a sheepfold,” on the 1916 Slijper letter and proposed A548 identification. View source.
- The Mondrian Papers, Leo Jansen, “The run-up to Mondrian's authorship,” on the 1914 sketchbooks and writing. View source.
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, notes to readers of the Mondrian digital catalogue raisonné, explaining its categories. View source.
- Lead image credit. Featured drawing: Piet Mondrian, Three Chrysanthemums, circa 1899–1900, black crayon and pastel on paper, 59 × 43 cm, RKD A103; private collection in the RKD catalogue.
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