Theo Van Doesburg

Along with Piet Mondrian, Theo Van Doesburg was one of the founding artists of De Stijl—a Modernist art movement that praised simplified, geometric form, and argued that painting, design, and architecture should be fully integrated. Van Doesburg was particularly interested in a form of De Stijl he envisioned called Elementarism, which was characterized by subtle shifts in tone, color and geometric shapes, and let horizontal and vertical lines vary in length and be disconnected from one another on a canvas. His vision for art expanded off of the canvas as well; Van Doesburg constantly created architectural designs, stained glass, interior decorations, and other functional items that were meant to be used together as an all-inclusive experience.