Abstract

The dogmatic nature of Piet Mondrian’s neoplasticism manifesto initiated a discourse about translating aesthetic ideals from paintings to 3D structures. Mondrian rarely ventured into architectural design, and his unique interior design of “Salon de Madame B … à Dresden” was not executed. The authors discuss physical constraints and perceptual factors that conflict with neoplastic ideals. Using physical and virtual models of the salon, the authors demonstrate challenges with perspective projections and show how such distortions could be minimized in a cylinder. The paradoxical percept elicited by a “reverspective” Mondrian-like space further highlights the essential role of perceptual processes in reaching neoplastic standards of beauty.

Highlights

  • The dogmatic nature of Piet Mondrian’s neoplasticism manifesto initiated a discourse about translating aesthetic ideals from paintings to 3D structures

  • Mondrian proposed six “neoplastic laws” of aesthetics in his essay “Neoplasticism in Pictorial Art” [3], one of which prescribes the use of cardinal orientations for lines and rectangular shapes to achieve constant equilibrium

  • The first—somewhat lofty and warped—manifesto was published in the journal De Stijl in 1918 [4], proclaiming a new, universal and abstract aesthetic that was no longer restricted by forms observed in nature

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Summary

A Physical Model of Bienert’s Salon

Mondrian mentioned in letters that he was experimenting with the design for Ida Bienert and might even build a scale model [17], the project was not realized during his lifetime. With half of the cylinder being in the FoV, horizontal lines appear horizontal only in the center, but bend upward and downward in the periphery, deviating from orthogonality These peripheral distortions are further enhanced by more prominent black lines and persist in conflict with Mondrian’s ideal (see online supplemental video B). Trapezoidal shapes seen in photographs at the corners of objects are typically perceived as representations of rectangles, due to shape constancy; in an extreme case this creates a conflict with motion parallax information that generates the paradoxical experience of a room following the observer sidewise [28]. Could this demonstration cast new light on Mondrian’s design of the salon?

Discussion
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