Beach with Five Piers at Domburg

Mondrian worked hard during his summers in and around the town on Domburg in Zeeland, between the years of 1908 and around 1912.

Landscape painting was his passion at this time and he tackled this genre within a number of different styles. Most during this period were pointilist in nature, though using an adapted form which was quicker and made use of blocks of colour beneath the 'points'. He had also produced a large number of impressionist artworks and so perhaps this approach was a combination of the two. He loved the landscape found in this part of the Netherlands and also found that he could work pretty much on his own, without interference. Whilst there were other artists who also worked here, they tended to be spread across a large area and so he could choose when to engage their own ideas and when to work alone. In all, there were several dozen paintings to have come from these relaxing summer vacations.

There is not a huge amount of information available on this particular piece, but it is likely to be a part of the The Sidney Janis Family Collections in New York, US. Its date has been confirmed from various sources as being 1909, which is entirely in line with the artist's movements at around that time of his life. He spent summers on holiday here from 1908 to around 1912. This is believed to have been completed on canvas, naturally with oils, though many of his other artworks in and around Domburg were actually completed on cardboard. The artist is also known to have produced many drawings and taken photographs in order to allow him to produce further work from his studio at a later date.