Stijl, De

Stijl, De (Dutch, “the style”), a periodical founded by the painters Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian in 1917. The name also applies to the artists and architects associated with it, and to the style they created. The magazine, which promoted Neo-Plasticism and, later, Dadaism, was one of the most influential art periodicals of its time. The last issue appeared in 1932.

As a movement, De Stijl was dedicated to abstraction that would create a universal response from all viewers based on a quest for harmony and order. De Stijl canvases are abstract compositions with areas in pure primary colours (blue, red, and yellow) combined with straight lines in black, grey, and white. De Stijl principles also influenced the decorative arts, and architecture in particular, for which the movement advocated plane surfaces and austere lines, related to Cubism. These principles can be seen in Schröder House (1924) in Utrecht by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, and the Workers' Housing Estate (1924-1927) in Hook of Holland by Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud. The architectural aspects of De Stijl greatly influenced Neue Sachlichkeit, a movement that arose in Germany in the 1920s.