 Piet Mondrian.jpg)
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 broad yellow upper-left field abuts a black one, while most of the lower canvas remains white. Tiny blue and red accents sit at the right edge. This is the Lisbon Berardo collection Tableau, RKD B150, catalogued in 1923 by RKD. A collection-supplied Google Arts & Culture entry dates it 1929, so the discrepancy is stated rather than silently choosing one year.[1]
At a glance
- ArtistPiet Mondrian (1872–1944)
- TitleTableau (Yellow, Black, Blue, Red and Grey)
- Catalogue numberRKD B150
- Date1923 in RKD; 1929 in the Berardo/Google Arts & Culture record
- MediumOil on canvas
- Dimensions54.5 × 53.5 cm in the collection-supplied record
- CollectionMuseu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon
- InventoryUID 102-850 in RKD
Mondrian across periods
Contents
- Which painting is this?
- The contested year
- Reading the unequal blocks
- How the colour is distributed
- What can the records establish?
- Why the date question changes the reading
- A useful test for identification
Which painting is this?
The title is a list of colours, a description shared by several Mondrian canvases. This page concerns the near-square Lisbon Tableau that RKD lists as B150, inventory UID 102-850. The local image has a yellow square and a broad black field across its upper left, a small blue mark high on the right and a red-orange band toward the right edge. It should not be attached to the 1922 Musée d'Orsay B139 Composition with yellow, black, blue, red, and gray or to Guggenheim's 1922 B146 Tableau 2.[1][2]
 The Red Tree Piet Mondrian.jpg)
The contested year
RKD places B150 in its 1922–23 section and dates it 1923. The Berardo collection entry provided through Google Arts & Culture gives 1929 and a size of 54.5 × 53.5 cm. Christie’s 2017 presentation of a similarly titled Tableau gives 1923 but a different size, 54 × 53.5 cm. Those records should not be blended into a false precision. The collection inventory and visual composition establish the identity used here; the year remains explicitly disputed across the accessible source records.[1][2][3]
Reading the unequal blocks
The colour area at upper left is compact compared with the open white lower region. The thick black horizontal near the top becomes a filled black plane, then the line work grows sparse below. Small blue and red edge accents keep the gaze moving around the right boundary. As in many of Mondrian's mature compositions, balance comes from unequal parts that answer one another across the canvas, rather than repetition of identical squares.
The surface is an oil painting. In a small web reproduction, the subtle differences among the whites and the slight variation of the painted boundaries can be easy to overlook; a chart of colour rectangles does not fully convey the object.
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Watch on YouTubeHow the colour is distributed
The title names five colours, but they are not given equal space. Yellow and black take command near the upper left. Blue and red are much smaller and lie towards the right edge, so a reader moving across the picture finds them after the larger fields. The broad lower area is comparatively open. This unequal distribution creates a route through the image rather than a symmetrical pattern of primary-colour squares.
The black area has a different effect from a black dividing line. It reads as a positive block with visual weight, while the narrower lines organise adjoining fields. The little blue and red accents are potent precisely because they interrupt an otherwise pale right side. One can test their role by imagining them removed: the white area would feel more continuous and the upper-left mass less answered. That interpretation is grounded in what is visible, independent of the disputed date.
What can the records establish?
The accessible records agree on the artist, medium, broadly similar dimensions and colour arrangement, but they do not agree on the year. RKD's B150 entry belongs to its 1922–23 catalogue section and gives 1923. The museum-supplied record on Google Arts & Culture says 1929. Because a six-year difference is material in Mondrian's development, the article should preserve both attributions. A reader should not infer that one source has been superseded merely because another is displayed more prominently in a search result.[1][2]
The 2017 Christie's presentation is useful as a cross-check for a similarly titled work, but title and near-matching dimensions alone do not prove that every reference names exactly the Lisbon object. Here RKD B150 and Berardo UID 102-850 are the safest anchors. The painting's title may appear with “gray” or “grey,” and with the colours in a different order; a spelling variation should not be treated as evidence of a new artwork.[1][3]
Why the date question changes the reading
If the 1923 attribution is right, the composition belongs near Mondrian's early mature experiments with expansive white fields and strong peripheral accents. If 1929 is right, it sits later in a period when many of his arrangements had become sparer. Those are contextual possibilities, not conclusions that resolve the discrepancy. The visible structure deserves analysis on its own terms while the source conflict stays open. A new catalogue or conservation record tied explicitly to UID 102-850 would be the evidence needed to settle it more confidently.
A useful test for identification
Before adopting a date from a caption, compare the actual arrangement: a strong yellow and black mass at upper left, a large pale lower region, and much smaller blue and red accents on the right. Then check the collection identifier. Colour-list titles can be reordered and translated, but those visible relations and UID 102-850 identify the Lisbon work used on this page. The date conflict between RKD and the collection-supplied record remains a research question attached to that object, not a reason to merge it with a similar painting in another collection.[1][2]
Mondrian artworks directory
Frequently asked questions
Where is this Tableau?
It is catalogued in Lisbon at Museu Coleção Berardo, UID 102-850.[1]
Was it painted in 1923 or 1929?
RKD gives 1923; the collection-supplied Google Arts & Culture record gives 1929. The accessible records disagree.[1]
Is it the 1922 Tableau 2?
No. Tableau 2 is Guggenheim B146, a different composition.[1]
Discussion
How much white is left open?
Reader Insights
Which small accent changes the right edge?
Why do the 1923 and 1929 dates need separate attribution?
Why do the 1923 and 1929 dates need separate attribution?
Join the Conversation
Share what you notice in this painting below.
References
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, B150, 1923, Lisbon inventory UID 102-850. View source.
- Museu Coleção Berardo via Google Arts & Culture, Collection-supplied object metadata, date 1929 and dimensions. View source.
- Christie’s, 2017 display of similarly titled Tableau dated 1923. View source.
- Lead image credit. Piet Mondrian, Tableau (Yellow, Black, Blue, Red and Grey), oil on canvas, Museu Coleção Berardo UID 102-850, RKD B150; source dates disagree between 1923 and 1929.
