Piet Mondrian’s artwork “Woman and child in front of a farm,” created approximately between 1898 and 1899, is an Impressionist portrait housed at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, Netherlands. This piece exemplifies Mondrian’s early engagement with Impressionism before he transitioned into the abstract style he is most renowned for today.
The artwork depicts a scene with a woman and child, portrayed in a manner that aligns with the Impressionist movement’s emphasis on capturing the essence of the moment and the play of light. The painting is split across two panels, with the left panel focusing on the woman and child and the right panel presenting the farm environment in which they are situated. The use of color is vibrant yet retains the characteristic Impressionist brushwork, where individual strokes and dabs of paint build up the image and convey a sense of the atmosphere. The brushwork is loose and dynamic, suggesting movement and a snapshot in time. The reds and oranges stand out, particularly in the depiction of the farm building, adding warmth and focus to the composition. This early work reveals Mondrian’s grounding in representational imagery, prior to his evolution into the highly abstract and geometric style that he would pioneer later in his career.
