The Mondriaan House is a museum in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, in the house where Piet Mondriaan was born in 1872. The museum lies in the historical centre of Amersfoort. The building of the Christian primary school, where the father of Mondriaan was headmaster, has also been incorporated in the museum building. In 1994, the house and the school were opened as a library and documentation centre. Since 2001 the Mondriaan House has been the only museum for constructive and concrete art in the Netherlands.
Mondrian monument
In 2013, the municipality of Amersfoort and the Mondriaanhuis commissioned three artists to design a monument for Mondrian, which commemorates the childhood of the Amersfoort-born painter. Frank Halmans, Paul de Reus and Andrei Roiter each interpreted this in their own way. Frank Halmans’ ‘abacus’ was chosen by the public as the best design and was realized in 2015 at the front of the museum.
The Halmans monument makes smart use of the environment by integrating it with the fencing along the Kortegracht and combines simplicity, nostalgia and expressiveness.
According to Halmans, the artwork recalls the little Mondrian who may have played with such beads in his baby box. In addition, the ‘abacus’ refers to the school that was established in the Mondriaanhuis at the end of the nineteenth century, headed by the Piet Mondriaan senior. The monument makes smart use of the environment by integrating it with the fencing along the canal and combines simplicity, nostalgia and expressiveness.
The beads are colored in the three primary colors plus black and white; recognizable to almost everyone as the palette of the later Mondrian. There is one bead that differs in color from the rest. This bead is gold colored and has an inscription in Dutch and English with the text: On March 7, 1872, the painter Piet Mondrian was born in this house at 11 Kortegracht . He lived here until his eighth year (1880). – The life of Piet Mondriaan began here at 11 Kortegracht on March 7, 1872.
Monument Mondriaan could be realized with the support of the municipality of Amersfoort, donors and friends of the Mondriaanhuis.
Frank Halmans, Monument Mondrian, 2015, Steel, aluminum, brass, lacquer Dimensions : 550 x 110 cm. Diameter beads 25 cm
