Farm Setting, Three Tall Trees in the Foreground

Piet Mondrian

c. 1907

Pastel and Conté crayon over graphite on greenish blue wove paper

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A pastoral scene depicts a farm building with a red roof, several tall bare trees, and a few cows grazing in a field under a hazy sky. A pastoral scene depicts a farm building with a red roof, several tall bare trees, and a few cows grazing in a field under a hazy sky. Piet Mondrian is famous for his paintings of irregular black grids on white backgrounds interspersed with rectangles in bright primary colors. Less familiar are the landscapes from earlier in his career. Mondrian began Farm Setting with a pencil, searching for pleasing rhythms and contours in the slender trees and the slant of the farmhouse roof. He varied his pastel application, seemingly working from background to foreground. Delicate strokes in the sky and the hazy tops of distant trees give way t