De Stijl

(c.1910s-1930s)

means simply "style" in Dutch, a Dutch style of pure abstraction
emerged largely in response to the horrors of World War I and against the decorative excesses of Art Deco. Instead, it sought to 're-harmonize' society with an utopian social order.
embraced a form of pure abstraction, pared-down aesthetic using basic visual elements such as lines and primary colors. This austere language was meant to reduce everything to the very essentials, revealing the laws governing the harmony of the ideal world.
obsessed with the nature of form and color itself, not the aesthetic aspect
an ideal fusion of form and function, not only in fine art media such as painting and sculpture, but also industrial design, typography, even literature and music.
influence was felt more noticeably in the realm of architecture
developed by Piet Mondrian, Theo Van Doesburg and Bart van der Leck.
Mondrian was the most representative of the group. He refined the elements of his art to a grid of lines and primary colors according his principles of harmony. He saw the lines and colors as counteracting cosmic forces: Vertical lines embodied the direction and energy of the sun's rays. Horizontal lines represent the earth's movement around it. Primary colors are cosmic tinted spectacles: yellow radiated the sun's energy; blue receded as infinite space and red materialized where blue and yellow met.