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
Wietske van Leeuwen 1989 to 1993 under Jan van der Vaart, and Henk Trumpie. After graduation she settled in Amsterdam as an independent artist and started her own studio. In 1996 Van Leeuwen was nominated for the NPS Cultuurprijs 1996, a battle between young unknown artists which was aired on national television. Van Leeuwen received a number of grants from the Mondriaan Fonds, the Dutch fund for visual art and cultural heritage. Since 1997 she is also working as a ceramics and drawing teacher at Altra College, Amsterdam. Van Leeuwen's work is included in the collection of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, the Museum