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 painting
A pale dune rises in the middle of a small horizontal picture, under a deep blue-violet sky. The entire surface seems to flicker with short strokes of yellow, orange, blue and white. This is Piet Mondrian's 1909 Pointillist Dune Study, Crest at Centre, catalogued by RKD as A702. Kunstmuseum Den Haag owns it as 0334293 and calls it Duin III. The museum records oil on cardboard, 29.5 × 39 cm. It is a separate painting from the left-crest A703 and right-crest A704, despite their similar subjects and technique.[1][2]
At a glance
- ArtistPiet Mondrian (Piet Mondriaan, 1872–1944)
- Catalogue titlePointillist Dune Study, Crest at Centre; RKD spells “center”
- Museum titleDuin III (“Dune III”)
- Date1909
- Catalogue numberRKD A702
- MediumOil on cardboard
- Dimensions29.5 × 39 cm (height × width)
- CollectionKunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague
- Object number0334293; from the Salomon B. Slijper bequest[1][2]
Three pointillist dune studies of 1909
Contents
- What does the centre-crest dune show?
- How do the separate marks create light?
- Why was Mondrian painting dunes in 1909?
- How is it different from the left and right studies?
- Where is the original?
What does the centre-crest dune show?
The dune fills most of the composition, its upper line rising near the centre and falling away toward the sides. A blue-violet sky occupies a relatively narrow upper band. Mondrian did not fill either zone with a single smooth colour. The sky is made of small blue, purple and warmer touches; the sand mixes pale cream, yellow, orange, blue and faint violet. Near the lower part, warmer broken lines cut across the field before it settles into a lighter foreground.
 The Red Tree Piet Mondrian.jpg)
The high horizon brings the dune surface close to the viewer. There are no figures, buildings or clear paths to offer scale. The centre crest supplies the principal landmark. The eye can move up to that swell, then outward along the curved boundary between sand and sky. It can also reverse direction, following individual strokes that refuse to merge into a featureless mass.
The title is especially useful because the RKD lists two companion-looking works in the same year. “Crest at centre” describes the placement of this dune's highest point. It is an object-identification aid, not a claim that Mondrian titled the work Duin III to express a theory of centrality. The museum's Dutch title and RKD's descriptive English title refer to the same object because both identify 0334293.[1][2]
How do the separate marks create light?
“Pointillist” in the RKD title points to a surface built from many distinct touches of colour. In this work they are not identical dots arranged with mechanical regularity. Some are short dashes, others irregular patches; their direction and density shift between sky, crest and lower slope. Nearby cool and warm marks can make the sand seem to shimmer without Mondrian having to blend them into one flat beige tone.
The technique changes how the viewer reads distance. From far back, the little touches join into a pale dune and dark sky. From close up, their differences become the subject of attention. This alternation makes the landscape both recognisable and self-consciously painted. It is a study of a coastal form, but also a study of what discrete colour strokes can do on a small cardboard support.
The exact material matters. Kunstmuseum Den Haag says oil on cardboard, a modest, portable support for a work measuring less than forty centimetres across. The term “study” does not establish that A702 was a direct draft for a named later finished painting. It indicates the exploratory character of the catalogue entry; no cited museum record proves a one-to-one preparatory chain from this cardboard to another canvas.[2][1]
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Watch on YouTubeWhy was Mondrian painting dunes in 1909?
RKD places A702 within the Zeeland works, near views of sea, Domburg beach and piers, and other dune experiments. The sequence moves from A700's identifiable beach and piers to A701's brightly striped dune sketch, then to the three crest-position studies A702–A704. This is a catalogue grouping, not a guaranteed day-by-day sequence of work. It shows, however, that Mondrian examined the coastal landscape through several distinct compositions in 1909.[1]
The Artizon Museum's account of a 1909 Mondrian Dune observes that he explored layers from land to sky and varied the density of brushstrokes and colours while working at Domburg. That description provides a useful way to look at A702, although the Artizon page concerns a different collection record and should not supply this Hague painting's physical details. In A702 the separation between dune and sky is simple, but the interior of each band is richly worked.[3]
Later Mondrian is often associated with rigid straight lines and primary colours. This small 1909 study shows an earlier, different concern: how the shifting light of a real dune can be recreated through separate, often non-naturalistic colour marks. It belongs to the path of experimentation that preceded abstraction, but its irregular strokes, curved crest and coastal subject deserve attention on their own terms.
How is it different from the left and right studies?
A703, “crest at left,” tilts the dune's upper boundary toward the left. Christie’s recorded it as oil with traces of graphite on paper laid down on composition board, 30 × 39.4 cm. RKD lists a Tokyo collection then called the Bridgestone Museum of Art. These facts should not be copied onto this Hague cardboard A702 simply because both have a granular surface.[1][4]
A704, “crest at right,” is another Kunstmuseum Den Haag work. The museum calls it Duin II, object 0334292, and records oil on canvas, 37.5 × 46.5 cm. Its dune rises toward the right and the work is larger than A702. The Dutch numbering Duin II and Duin III need not match the RKD A-number order; the museum accession and image position prevent confusion.[1][5]
The three studies offer a compact lesson in composition. Shift the crest from left to centre to right and the viewer's path through almost the same sand-and-sky subject changes. Mondrian can hold the technique broadly consistent while varying where the major shape rises. Their differences are why separate pages make sense rather than one page that treats the images as interchangeable.
Where is the original?
The original A702 belongs to Kunstmuseum Den Haag. Its official object page gives Duin III, 1909, oil on cardboard, 29.5 × 39 cm, inventory 0334293, and credits the Salomon B. Slijper bequest. That page establishes ownership, not a permanent display promise. Anyone travelling to see this exact work should check the current museum programme.[2]
The website retains its existing 400-pixel image. It shows the central swell, dark blue-violet sky and dense pale colour marks consistent with A702. The image is adequate for identifying the work and explaining the composition, though not for judging minute paint texture as one could before the original. No outside licensed image is needed to complete this page.
Mondrian artworks directory
Frequently asked questions
Is Duin III the same as the centre-crest study?
What is its medium?
The museum records oil on cardboard, 29.5 × 39 cm.[2]
Is it the same as Duin II?
Discussion
How does the central crest guide the eye?
Reader Insights
Which short colours create a sense of light on the sand?
How does this cardboard study differ from right-crest Duin II?
How does this cardboard study differ from right-crest Duin II?
Join the Conversation
Share what you notice in this painting below.
References
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, Zeeland seascapes catalogue, A700–A704, identifying centre-crest A702 and its Hague inventory. View source.
- Kunstmuseum Den Haag, official object record for Duin III, 0334293, 1909, oil on cardboard, 29.5 × 39 cm, Slijper bequest. View source.
- Artizon Museum, collection interpretation for a 1909 Mondrian Dune concerning land/sky layers, strokes and colour in the Domburg studies. View source.
- Christie’s, original lot record for separate left-crest A703, with paper support and dimensions. View source.
- Kunstmuseum Den Haag, official object record for separate right-crest Duin II, 0334292. View source.
- Lead image credit. Piet Mondrian, Pointillist Dune Study, Crest at Centre (Duin III), 1909, oil on cardboard, 29.5 × 39 cm, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, 0334293, RKD A702.
