Piet Mondriaan artwork • painting • previously for sale The Oostzijdse Mill at the Gein, viewed from the Landzicht farmhouse

In 2005 Simonis & Buunk sold a view of the Oostzijdese Molen by moonlight by Piet Mondriaan to the Rijksmuseum. The painting, dated around 1903, is part of the impressive series of landscapes that Mondrian painted along the Gein. Again we have a painting of the Oostzijds Molen from this earliest period in our possession: The Oostzijds Molen aan het Gein, seen from the Landzicht farm, also dated around 1903. Roughly between 1900 and 1911, Mondriaan painted a series of landscapes with windmills in the environment of the river Gein near Abcoude. Mondrian visited this area from Amsterdam, where he settled from Winterswijk in 1892 to study at the Rijksacademie. He went to Abcoude by bicycle or by train to find a place to paint from there. The Eastside Mill, which is located within walking distance east of Abcoude, was one of Mondriaan's most popular motifs during this period. The octagonal, reed-covered paddle wheel mill was built in 1874 to replace its burnt-down predecessor. Mondrian was captivated by the typical Dutch subject. Between 1902 and 1908 he has depicted it many times, from different points of view, at different hours of the day and in different weather and light: at day, sunset or night, from the other side or not, in portrait and landscape format, in a naturalistic-impressionist to pre-luminist style. 'I am not after paintings, I am after discoveries,' he must have said about this. The mills can therefore be seen as a reflection of his search for new solutions to the formal problems he faced, formal issues arising from his changing (art) theoretical views. Mondrian has chosen a position for this painting across the Gein from the small jetty of Landzicht farm, where the river curves and the water is wide. The horizon is kept high, emphasizing the river between the painter and the mill. On the right we see the small summer house where the miller and his family lived in the summer months, on the right some cows, indicated with a dot of paint. In fact, all attention is focused on the turbulent water that glistens in the sun on a windy day. With wide, horizontal brushstrokes and quick, subtle touches, Mondrian paints the Gein and the effect of wind and sunlight on the water. With the cool silhouette of 'his' Eastside Mill in the background, contrasting with the turbulent air.