Serialism closely related to certain works from the de Stijl and Bauhaus movements in design and architecture called "serial art" by some writers (; ; ; ), specifically the paintings of Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg, Bart van Leck, Georg van Tongerloo, Richard Paul Lohse, and Burgoyne Diller, who had been seeking to “avoid repetition and symmetry on all structural levels and working with a limited number of elements” . Stockhausen described the final synthesis in this manner: So serial thinking is something that's come into our consciousness and will be there forever: it's relativity and nothing else. It just says:
Piet van der Sanden camp near Hannover in Germany. Shortly after the war ended he joined the British intelligence service. Between 1945 and 1947 he worked as a translator for British occupying forces in Germany. While there Van der Sanden met his future wife. Between 1947 and 1960 he worked as a journalist first for the "De Nieuwe Zuidhollander" and later for "Het Binnenhof". Starting in 1960 he worked as a parliamentary journalist for "Unitas- en Persuniecombinatie". His work in this position lasted until 1966. Van der Sanden became politically involved in 1966 when he became parliamentary advisor and secretary to the Catholic People's