History of the Movement

A Brief Overview of the Dutch Artistic Movement: De Stijl 

Years: 1917-1931

Location: The Netherlands

Based completely on aesthetics, the Netherlandish based artistic movement swept the country by storm as a response of their neutrality during WWI, thus causing their isolation from Europe’s art scene, De Stijl. The De Stijl art movement consisted of both artists and architects using elements of pure abstractionism and simple form. Visual components of De Stijl consist of vertical and horizontal lines, primary colors, as well as black and white. With such striking, unique design, the artists Theo van Doesburg,Piet Mondrian, Bart van der Leck, and architects Gerrit Rietveld and Cornelis van Eesteren swept The Netherlands by storm.