In 1938 Piet Mondrian left Paris, his home for nearly 20 years, and fled to London. With political tensions rapidly crescendoing on the continent, he feared war would break out. In addition, the Nazis had included two of his paintings in the 1937 Entartete Kunst (“Degenerate Art”) exhibition in Munich, demonstrating what they thought of his work. After the bombing of London in 1940, Mondrian no longer felt safe there either.
At the invitation of his friend the American artist Harry Holtzman, Mondrian left England for New York on 23 September 1940. Afraid to fly, he boarded a ship, the SS Samaria, in Liverpool. He spent most of the 10-day voyage on deck in his coat, hat and life jacket. He couldn’t bear the dark rooms below deck, which were too cramped and crowded for him and his baggage. Being up above was no fun either, however. Mondrian’s fear of pirate attacks, his loneliness, and the disorienting effect of being surrounded by the open ocean made it a frightening experience.
After 10 days at sea, Mondrian must have been delighted to finally see the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty on the horizon. After going through immigration on Ellis Island, he took a ferry to the mainland, where Holtzman was waiting. His life in New York was about to begin.
Holtzman had booked Mondrian a room high up in the Beekman Tower hotel with a panoramic view of the city, so he could spend a few days recovering from his journey. It’s hard to imagine a better place to embark on a New York adventure. But Mondrian may not have been able to enjoy the view; the trip had left him exhausted.
Holtzman and his wife, Eileen, then took Mondrian to their holiday home in the Berkshires. But, being Mondrian, he soon returned to the city. In late October, he moved into a studio at 353 East 56th Street that Holtzman had found for him.
New York was the last city Piet Mondrian lived in. The buzzing metropolis, pulsing with the beat of boogie-woogie, gave him energy to push his work in new directions. There may not be much of Mondrian’s Manhattan left today, but the Mondrian Route brings it back to life with the help of historic photography and your own imagination.