Forest with stream

This forest scene with a stream was drawn by Piet Mondriaan in 1888. He had just finished his extended primary education by then. The drawing was probably made as a preparation for a teaching certificate for freehand drawing, which he passed in 1889, aged 17.

We can see his father’s influence in the fluid drawing style here: round forms, soft contours and a strong contrast of dark and light tones. Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan Senior produced memorial drawings and plates.

Mondriaan began to show a talent for drawing when he was about twelve years old, and his father allowed him to help produce Memorial plates. In addition to this work, Mondriaan’s father was headmaster of the local school. It stood right here, where this exhibition hall is now. The family lived in the headmaster’s house next to the school building. Only one of the walls of the old school building has been preserved – you will see it later on in the tour.