De Stijl was published by the Dutch painter, designer, writer, and critic Theo van Doesburg that served to propagate the group's theories. Along with Theo van Doesburg, the group's principal members were the painters Piet Mondrian, Vilmos Huszár, and Bart van der Leck, and the architects Gerrit Rietveld, Robert van 't Hoff, and J. J. P. Oud. The artistic philosophy that formed a basis for the group's work is known as "Neoplasticism"—the new plastic art (or "Nieuwe Beelding" in Dutch). According to Theo van Doesburg in the introduction of the magazine "De Stijl" 1917 no.1, the "De Stijl"-movement was a reaction to
Jan van der Heyden life elements, has been identified as an important influence on this composition. In particular, like in Dou's composition, van der Heyden's still life scene depicts a wide range of objects of an artistic as well as a scientific nature. These objects reference the passion of contemporary scholars for putting together collections of miscellaneous objects. The objects in van der Heyden's "Still Life with Globe, Books, Sculpture, and Other Objects" were apparently selected to evoke the two intellectual attributes of the active and contemplative life. The contemplative life is the life of art, philosophy and theology while the active life is