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 loose vertical cluster of white flowers rises against a warm brown and ochre background. This early Mondrian painting is catalogued as A100, White phloxes. RKD currently dates it c. 1899–1900 and lists a private collection. A research article from the Mondrian Papers identifies the pictured work as oil on canvas, 46.5 × 24 cm, and discusses a longer possible date range, c. 1900–1908. The differences in date wording deserve to remain visible: the exact year cannot be settled from the available records.[1][2]
At a glance
Mondrian across periods
Contents
- What does the painting show?
- Why has this work been confused with another flower painting?
- How does it fit among Mondrian's early still lifes?
- How the narrow format works
- A flower study across two histories
- Why the catalogue correction matters to readers
What does the painting show?
Small white blossoms collect along an upright stem. Some light petals emerge clearly, while others nearly dissolve into the pale yellow and brown touches behind them. The lower part is darker and looser. This gives the flower heads a feeling of brightness without a hard cutout edge. The narrow canvas keeps the viewer close to the stalk and leaves little room for a wider interior or garden setting.
 The Red Tree Piet Mondrian.jpg)
The subject is botanical, but the picture is also an exercise in finding light within a restrained range of colours. White is not simply applied as one flat tone: cream, yellow and grey make the flowers turn in the dim space. The blooms seem to hover because the background shifts rather than establishing a firm wall or tabletop.
Why has this work been confused with another flower painting?
Researcher Wietse Coppes of the Mondrian Papers reconstructed a naming confusion involving this work and a different painting of White Christmas Roses. The older catalogue had associated A100 with White Roses. Coppes used a 1923 exhibition review, later collection history and visual evidence to argue that the picture associated with A100 is the white phloxes shown here. The newly traced White Christmas Roses was a smaller work on paper mounted on panel, rather than this tall oil canvas.[2]
The distinction is more than a change of flower name. It prevents a later Paris flower picture from being conflated with an early, vertically formatted canvas. RKD's updated digital listing uses White phloxes for A100. This page follows that title and retains the image that visually fits the phlox painting. It does not claim that the precise early date or every part of the old ownership history is beyond dispute.[1][2]
How does it fit among Mondrian's early still lifes?
The RKD places A100 among Amsterdam still lifes of the late 1890s and early 1900s, after arrangements of apples and oranges and before a group of chrysanthemum pictures. That catalogue position is useful context, though it does not prove that the artist painted the works in exactly that order. White phloxes focuses on a single upright cluster rather than a table set with fruit and vessels.[1]
Mondrian continued to make flower pictures even after his abstract paintings became central to his reputation. The Mondrian Papers notes that he still produced small flower works in his Paris years. This makes it risky to date any flower picture merely from how naturalistic it looks. Here the catalogue record and the research on the specific canvas provide a better guide.[2]
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Watch on YouTubeHow the narrow format works
At about twice as high as it is wide, the canvas keeps the flower cluster upright and close. There is little room for a surrounding table or garden. The blossoms emerge from a dark lower zone into warmer light, with some petals nearly merging into the background. Their edges are made by changing colour and short marks rather than a continuous outline. The painting's apparent simplicity conceals a careful balance between a named plant and an atmosphere of shifting light.
The research on A100 is especially valuable because the physical format helps test names. Coppes distinguishes this tall oil canvas from a smaller work on paper mounted on panel that had been confused with it under the name White Christmas Roses. The visual match, support and catalogue crosswalk matter more than a familiar flower label repeated from an older list. The current RKD title is White phloxes, while the exact dating still varies between the catalogue and research account.[1][2]
A flower study across two histories
The picture belongs among early Amsterdam still lifes in RKD's catalogue, yet the later naming confusion has its own history in twentieth-century exhibitions and scholarship. That is why a responsible page should discuss both the painted flower and how the painting has been identified. Looking at the image alone cannot resolve a catalogue dispute; reading the object evidence alone would miss the unusually luminous, vertical composition that made this particular work worth tracing.
Why the catalogue correction matters to readers
An incorrect flower name can lead to more than a botanical mistake. It can transfer the date, support and ownership history of a different object onto this narrow canvas. The Mondrian Papers reconstruction demonstrates that photographs, contemporary reviews and collection evidence must be read together when an old title proves unstable. For a visitor, the practical result is straightforward: use RKD A100 for these phloxes, retain the range of date opinions, and keep the smaller White Christmas Roses separate.[1][2]
Mondrian artworks directory
Frequently asked questions
What is the catalogue number of White Phloxes ?
It is RKD A100.[1]
When was it painted?
Is it White Christmas Roses ?
No. Mondrian Papers research separates the tall white phlox canvas from a different, smaller Christmas-rose picture.[2]
Discussion
Where do the blooms merge with the ground?
Reader Insights
How does the narrow format affect the upright stem?
Why is this painting distinct from White Christmas Roses?
Why is this painting distinct from White Christmas Roses?
Join the Conversation
Share what you notice in this painting below.
References
- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, Amsterdam still-life catalogue, A100 White phloxes, c. 1899–1900. View source.
- The Mondrian Papers, Wietse Coppes, research article on White Christmas Roses and the distinct White Phloxes canvas, including medium, dimensions and the 1923 exhibition evidence. View source.
- Lead image credit. Piet Mondrian, White Phloxes, RKD A100, private collection; RKD dates it c. 1899–1900, while Mondrian Papers captions it c. 1900–1908.
