Zinc white marker paint in Mondrian’s neoplastic paintings

Abstract

This research provides new insights into the composition of zinc white paints used by Piet Mondrian during his neoplastic period. Nine paintings, dated between 1921 and 1935, were studied, with a focus on three works in the collection of the Fondation Beyeler (Basel, Switzerland)—Tableau I (1921–1925), Composition with yellow and blue (1932) and Composition with double line and blue (1935)—and on Lozenge composition with yellow lines (1933) in Kunstmuseum Den Haag (The Netherlands). Cross sections from other paintings, most of which previously studied by Van Asperen de Boer in the early 1990’s, were reexamined as well. The analyses revealed a zinc white paint with aluminum phosphate inclusions (ZW-Al/P). In two of the works, a zinc white paint with aluminum sulphate was also found. The occurrence of aluminum phosphate (or aluminum sulphate) in 1920–1930’s paint formulations, and in paintings by Mondrian, has never been reported so far. Likely, the use of this zinc white paint in Mondrian’s and other artworks is more widespread than currently known, but it may have been overlooked in similar case studies, since its identification can only be accomplished with detailed scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDX) analysis of cross sections. Mondrian’s use of pure ‘bright’ ZW-Al/P paint is limited to the later paintings (1932–1935) of this study, whereas in the earlier works (1921–1929) it was mostly mixed with lead white, likely conveying a different hue. Both the ZW-Al/P and Zn-Al/S ‘marker paints’ were also added to yellow, blue or black paint in specific paint layers of the planes and lines, respectively. It was also shown that Mondrian used the same paint on the frames as in the white planes and that the frames were painted while still working on the composition, and not only when he considered the work completed. Indeed, the detection of the zinc white marker paints might help to delineate the chronology of Mondrian’s working process in other paintings and may also be important in the interpretation of overpaints in the course of a treatment when removal of certain paint layers is considered.