Boats in moonlight

In his younger years in Winterswijk Mondriaan liked to copy artworks under the guidance of his father.

The painting you see here, Boats in Moonlight, most likely is such a copy of an older work. This type of landscape doesn’t exist around Winterswijk. Look at the signature; it’s not as he usually signs; tellingly, it’s in the style of the Dutch 17th century masters.

During his training to become an art teacher Piet Mondriaan finds support and guidance from the elderly Braet von Uberfeldt, a former art teacher from Amsterdam, who moved to Doetinchem when he was 73. Piet often takes the train to Doetinchem to study Braet’s collection of prints and paintings. Braet introduces him to the works of Bosboom, Breitner, Jozef Israels and Koekkoek. Piet is even allowed to bring bundles of Braets collected prints home.

After he finishes his education at the academy Mondriaan copies many artworks. This becomes an important source of income for him. In those days, the art of copying was a respectable job and good copies were quite expensive. The rule was that a copy should never be exact: it should at least differ in size.