Composition with Red Blue and Yellow De Stijl. An encounter with fellow Dutch artist Bart van der Leck provided ground for Mondrian to exchange ideas. From van der Leck he received the concept of painting flat areas of pure color; a solution to Mondrian’s problem of coloring - he was then using color in what he considered an Impressionist way, which was too restless and emotional. In return, van der Leck adopted Mondrian’s concept of crossed vertical and horizontal lines as a basis for composition. These two technical elements are consistent throughout all of Mondrian’s work. Shortly after the formation of Mondrian and van der Leck’s
Pieter Voltelyn Graham van der Byl a very popular and respected figure by both opposition and government. In parliament, a National Party politician asked the speaker of the house if they could refer to van der Byl as "Oom Piet" (which is an Afrikaans term of respect, meaning "uncle Piet"), this was duly granted and van der Byl was henceforth known as "Oom Piet" in parliament and in the media. During his years in opposition, van der Byl's views on National Party government policy never changed, he vehemently continued to openly criticise the Apartheid regime for its extreme suppression of the non-white population and its transformation