Devotion

Devotion was first shown at an exhibition in January 1909, together with several other recent figure pieces. Since 1900 Mondrian had done few figure pieces. Still, he now felt a need for this genre, at a time when he was preoccupied with the philosophical foundations of his art, and attempting to define his position with respect to other modern artists. In a letter to Israël Querido, Mondrian explained the work: "With the work, I only envisaged a girl conceived devotedly, or viewed devotedly, or with great devotion, and, by giving the hair that sort of red, to tone down the material side of things, to suppress any thoughts about 'hair,' 'costume,' etc. and to stress the spiritual."