By the Sea

Painted in 1909, By the Sea belongs to Mondrian's transitional years before the strict geometric abstraction for which he later became famous. The work records a coastal view with broad, economical brushwork and a heightened palette of blues, yellows, violets, and reds. Its simplified bands, balanced masses, and visible paint handling show Mondrian moving away from descriptive naturalism toward the relationships of color and line that would become central to his mature art. Yale University Art Gallery identifies the work as oil on cardboard and notes that it is part of its Modern and Contemporary Art collection.