Composition in Gray (Rag-time).

Theo van Doesburg prints bring the bold primary colours and clean geometry of De Stijl into your home. Van Doesburg was a Dutch painter, writer, poet and architect who founded De Stijl with Piet Mondrian and others in 1917, spread its ideas across Europe, and introduced the dynamic diagonals of his "counter-compositions". Our collection of fine art prints includes his compositions, design studies, stained-glass and colour designs, and Dada posters.

About Theo van Doesburg

Theo van Doesburg was born Christian Emil Marie Küpper in Utrecht on 30 August 1883. He thought of his stepfather, Theodorus Doesburg, as his real father, and took his name. After brief training in acting and singing he turned to painting, holding his first exhibition in 1908, and from 1912 also wrote for magazines.

His early paintings follow the Amsterdam Impressionists and Van Gogh, but in 1913 Kandinsky's writings convinced him that abstraction was the way forward. In 1915 he reviewed an exhibition by Piet Mondrian and contacted him, and in 1917, with Mondrian, Bart van der Leck, Vilmos Huszár, J. J. P. Oud and others, he founded the magazine De Stijl.

He became the movement's ambassador, moving to Weimar in 1922 to influence the Bauhaus. He also took part in Dada under the name I. K. Bonset. His idea of using diagonals, which he called Elementarism, led to a split with Mondrian. With Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Hans Arp he designed the interiors of the Aubette entertainment complex in Strasbourg. He died in Davos, Switzerland, on 7 March 1931.

Style and Subjects

Van Doesburg's De Stijl paintings use only straight lines, rectangles and pure colours: red, yellow and blue with black, white and grey. His early compositions abstract real subjects, such as card players or a cow, into blocks of colour.

From the mid-1920s his counter-compositions tilt the grid at forty-five degrees, giving a sense of movement and tension. He applied the same ideas to stained glass, interiors, architecture and typography.

Famous Works

• The Card Players (1916–1917), Kunstmuseum Den Haag. Cézanne's card players reduced step by step toward abstraction.
• Composition IX (1917), Kunstmuseum Den Haag. An abstraction built from rectangles of colour.
• Composition XI (1918), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. A balanced De Stijl arrangement of coloured planes.
• Composition in Gray (Rag-time) (1919). Musical rhythm turned into a grid of grey and black.
• Kleine Dada Soirée (1922). A typographic Dada poster made with Kurt Schwitters.
• Contra-Composition IV (1924). One of his first diagonal counter-compositions.
• Counter-Composition of Dissonances XVI (1925), Kunstmuseum Den Haag. Diagonal bars of colour clashing on a white ground.

Decorating with van Doesburg Prints

Van Doesburg's compositions suit modern and minimalist interiors: a living room, home office or studio with white walls and clean-lined furniture. Their primary colours make strong accents, and a pair of works, such as a grid composition and a diagonal counter-composition, creates a lively contrast.

His Dada posters and typographic designs, such as Kleine Dada Soirée, are ideal for a creative workspace, and his colour and stained-glass designs bring pattern to a hallway.

FAQ

What is De Stijl?

De Stijl ("The Style") was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by Theo van Doesburg, Piet Mondrian and others. It used straight lines, rectangles and primary colours to create a universal visual language.

Why did Van Doesburg and Mondrian split?

Van Doesburg introduced diagonal lines in his counter-compositions, an approach he called Elementarism. Mondrian rejected diagonals, and their disagreement is usually seen as the main reason for the split.

Was Van Doesburg involved with Dada?

Yes. Under the pseudonym I. K. Bonset he published Dada poetry and the magazine Mécano, and he took part in Dada events in the Netherlands.

What is the Aubette?

The Aubette is an entertainment complex in Strasbourg whose interiors he designed with Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Hans Arp, a landmark of De Stijl design.

Where can I see Van Doesburg's work?

Works are in the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

Related Artists

• Piet Mondrian: co-founder of De Stijl
• Kurt Schwitters: Dada artist he worked with in 1922–1923
• László Moholy-Nagy: Bauhaus artist influenced by the De Stijl ideas he brought to Weimar
• Wassily Kandinsky: painter whose writings turned him toward abstraction