The Highlighting factor of De Stijl was the fact that art was being used to design architecture
and furniture. The founders of De Stijl were Piet Mondrian, Van Doesburg and Bart Van Der
Leck.
De Stijl translates into English as 'The Style'. There were three periods of De Stijl: The
Immature period which lasted from 1916 to 1921, the mature period which lasted from 1921 to
1925 and the deterioration period which lasted from 1925 to 1931.
The architecture of the De Stijl artists was made up of geometric shapes including sphere
shaped windows and triangular chairs. Both their art and architecture was considered very
radical and even to nowadays standard would seem radical. However the architecture that
they produced was incredibly successful. Colour wise, the De Stijl artists used primary and
bold colours which creates a very striking look and style.
During the Immature period the artists displayed mainly paintings and sculpture. They formed
together to create the De Stijl magazine.
Their most famous and critically acclaimed works were produced in the mature period of De
Stijl. Many critics would say that their other periods didn't portray the same level of prestige as
the mature period of De Stijl. By this time Bart Van Der Leck had resigned. The movement
started to radically transform, Theo Van Doesburg collaborated with Eliezar Lissitzky and
toured many showings all hugely successful.
The final stage witnessed the deterioration of the De Stijl movement and witnessed Piet
Mondrian resigning his post after a confrontation with Theo Van Doesburg. De
Stijl started to become inconsistent and lost character and attractiveness in its
appearance. Even the most supportive art critics started to criticise the De Stijl
movement due to these inconsistencies.
