Piet Mondrian

“I wish to approach truth as closely as is possible, and therefore I abstract everything until I arrive at the fundamental quality of objects.”

“The emotion of beauty is always obscured by the appearance of the object. Therefore, the object must be eliminated from the picture.”

“The new plastic idea will ignore the particulars of appearance... it should find its expression in the abstraction of form and colour... in the straight line and the clearly defined primary colour.”

“Vertical and horizontal lines are the expression of two opposing forces; they exist everywhere and dominate everything; their reciprocal action constitutes 'life'.”

“By the unification of architecture, sculpture, and painting a new plastic reality will be created.”

“True Boogie-Woogie I conceive as homogeneous in intention with mine in painting: destruction of melody which is the equivalent of destruction of natural appearance; and construction through the continuous opposition of pure means—dynamic rhythm.”

“Art is higher than reality and has no direct relation to reality. To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual.”

“If we cannot free ourselves, we can free our vision.”

“The destructive element is too negative - the painter's method is not to destroy but to build up.”

“The culture of the particular form is ending. The culture of determined relations has begun.”

“Art is not made for anybody and is, at the same time, for everybody.”

“To create pure reality plastically, it is necessary to reduce natural forms to the constant elements of form and natural colour to primary colour.”

“The rhythm of relations of color and size makes the absolute appear in the relativity of time and space.”

“The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.”

“Every true artist has been inspired more by the beauty of lines and color and the relationships between them than by the concrete subject of the picture.”