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
A broad brown tower rises almost to the top of Piet Mondrian's Lighthouse at Westkapelle in Brown, with a restless blue-white sky behind it. This is the small painting catalogued by RKD as A683, not the pink A684, the clouded A682 or the much larger multicolour A687. Kunstmuseum Den Haag records the same object as 0334300, oil on canvas, 45 × 35.5 cm, from the Salomon B. Slijper bequest. RKD dates A683 to 1909, while the museum gives 1909–10. Both date ranges are approximate ways of placing the work within Mondrian's concentrated Westkapelle series.[1][2]
At a glance
- ArtistPiet Mondrian (Piet Mondriaan, 1872–1944)
- Catalogue titleLighthouse at Westkapelle in Brown
- Catalogue numberRKD / Welsh A683
- Museum object numberKunstmuseum Den Haag 0334300
- Date1909 in RKD; 1909–10 in the museum record
- MediumOil on canvas
- Dimensions45 cm high × 35.5 cm wide
- Collection creditKunstmuseum Den Haag, bequest of Salomon B. Slijper[1][2]
The Westkapelle lighthouse sequence
With Clouds (A682)
1908–09In Brown (A683)
1909In Pink (A684)
1909Multicolour (A687)
c. 1910Contents
- What does the painting show?
- Why did Mondrian return to this lighthouse?
- How does A683 differ from the other versions?
- What do the museum records establish?
What does the painting show?
The lighthouse fills the centre of the narrow canvas. Mondrian looks upward from close to its base, allowing the brown masonry to dominate the view. Rows of small dark window openings punctuate the tower. Near the bottom, an arched opening and low horizontal ground line bring the tall structure back to a human scale. The tower is cut tightly by the picture's top edge, increasing the sense that it continues beyond the viewer's field of vision.
 The Red Tree Piet Mondrian.jpg)
The brown is varied rather than flat. Reddish, muted purple and ochre patches move across the tower, while blue touches appear in some openings and shadows. The sky is likewise active: blue and white strokes shift around the masonry, with lighter passages on either side. The tower's straight rise is countered by broken, flickering marks. A strip of darker earth and vegetation at the bottom prevents the structure from appearing suspended in empty air.
The picture is small, just 45 × 35.5 cm, yet its viewpoint gives the lighthouse a monumental presence. The composition has very little horizon compared with tower and sky. Looking at the repeated windows helps measure its height; looking at the brushstrokes interrupts that measurement and brings attention back to paint. This is a close reading of the visible work, not a claim that the depicted sky records a known weather event or exact hour.[2]
Why did Mondrian return to this lighthouse?
The lighthouse at Westkapelle was one of the few Zeeland subjects Mondrian studied repeatedly during visits to the Domburg area. The Mondrian Route, developed with Kunstmuseum Den Haag and RKD, says he made five paintings and a drawing of the tower between 1908 and 1910. It also explains that the lighthouse had originally been built as a late fifteenth-century church tower. That history clarifies its distinctive masonry form: this was an adapted older structure, not a modern metal lighthouse.[3]
The same route notes that Mondrian concentrated on dunes and church towers during the summer of 1909 and that he varied his brushwork across the lighthouse pictures. A few works use short, small strokes; others rely more on longer sketchy strokes. In A683, the broken strokes in the tower and sky are readily visible. The repetition of one motif let Mondrian change colour, viewpoint and handling while keeping the underlying structure recognisable.[3]
Kunstmuseum Den Haag's By the Sea exhibition account places Mondrian among artists visiting Zeeland between 1908 and 1915, including Jan Toorop and Jacoba van Heemskerck. It describes the area's dunes, sea and built landmarks as recurring subjects. That wider context helps explain why this tower was attractive, but it does not prove that A683 was finished entirely outdoors. The Mondrian Route says he often returned to Zeeland works in his Amsterdam studio and suggests that some lighthouse paintings were among those he revisited; it does not identify A683 as one of them with certainty.[3][4]
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 does A683 differ from the other versions?
RKD keeps the Westkapelle works distinct. A682, Lighthouse at Westkapelle with Clouds, is dated 1908–09 and is Kunstmuseum object 0334285. A683 is the brown tower shown here, object 0334300. A684, Lighthouse at Westkapelle in Pink, is object 0334295. A686 is a 1909 drawing. A687, Lighthouse at Westkapelle in Orange, Pink, Purple and Blue, dates to about 1910 and is object 0334301. These catalogue numbers prevent the different pictures' dates, materials and dimensions from being transferred to one another.[1]
This painting's relatively small scale and restrained brown tower are important identifying features. The pink A684 is another small work, but its title reflects a different colour emphasis. A687 is a much taller 135 × 75 cm oil canvas according to Kunstmuseum Den Haag's exhibition text. A viewer searching for “Mondrian Westkapelle lighthouse” may encounter all of them. The local pages for the pink version, multicolour version and clouded version provide separate routes for those works.[1][5]
The sequence need not be forced into a simple story in which each work is more abstract than the last. RKD's dates overlap, and the pictures differ in support, scale, colour and handling. A683 retains many masonry details, yet the rapidly worked sky and shifting brown surface already make colour and brushwork central to what the viewer sees. Those qualities can be described directly without claiming an undocumented fixed order of execution.
What do the museum records establish?
The museum's object number 0334300 anchors the painting's measurements, material and collection credit. It calls the work Lighthouse at Westkapelle, rather than adding “in Brown,” and dates it 1909–10. RKD uses the colour-qualified title, ties A683 to the same museum object number and dates it 1909. This page uses the more specific catalogue title to distinguish neighbouring versions, while retaining the museum's object facts and displaying the date difference clearly.[1][2]
The Salomon B. Slijper bequest credit is a collection statement, not a complete provenance or current gallery location. The museum's public record establishes ownership, but exhibition placement can change. The existing site image is sufficient to identify and discuss this work; the page does not require a new photograph or uncertain permission to present the documented facts.
Mondrian artworks directory
Frequently asked questions
When did Mondrian paint Lighthouse at Westkapelle in Brown?
Where is the original painting?
It belongs to Kunstmuseum Den Haag, object 0334300, credited to the Salomon B. Slijper bequest.[2]
How large is it and what is it made of?
The museum records oil on canvas, 45 cm high by 35.5 cm wide.[2]
Is it the same painting as the pink lighthouse?
No. RKD identifies the brown version as A683 / 0334300 and the pink version as A684 / 0334295.[1]
Was the lighthouse originally a church tower?
Yes. The Mondrian Route describes it as a late fifteenth-century church tower later used as a lighthouse.[3]
Discussion
Which section of the lighthouse first draws your eye?
Reader Insights
Follow the windows up the brown tower. Where does your eye stop?
How does the broken blue-white sky change the tower?
How does this A683 view differ from the separate pink A684?
Join the Conversation
Share what you notice in this painting below.
References
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, digital Mondrian catalogue, “City scapes (A677–A692),” distinguishing lighthouse works A682, A683, A684, A686 and A687 and linking A683 to museum object 0334300. View source.
- Kunstmuseum Den Haag, collection record, Lighthouse at Westkapelle, object 0334300: oil on canvas, 45 × 35.5 cm, 1909–10 and Slijper bequest. View source.
- Mondrian Route, “Westkapelle lighthouse,” developed in collaboration with Kunstmuseum Den Haag and RKD; site history, five paintings and a drawing, and changing brushwork. View source.
- Kunstmuseum Den Haag, “By the Sea,” exhibition account on Zeeland's artists and coastal landmarks. View source.
- Kunstmuseum Den Haag, “Mondrian to Dutch Design: 100 Years of De Stijl,” caption giving the larger 1910 lighthouse version's 135 × 75 cm size. View source.
- Lead image credit. Piet Mondrian, Lighthouse at Westkapelle in Brown, RKD A683, oil on canvas, 45 × 35.5 cm; Kunstmuseum Den Haag 0334300, Slijper bequest.
