Polder landscape with irrigation ditch and five cows

Polder landscape with irrigation ditch and five cows of 1900 combines two of Mondrian's early recurring subjects — the engineered water management infrastructure of the Dutch polder and the cattle that grazed its meadows. The irrigation ditch running through the foreground creates a strong horizontal that structures the composition, while the five cows provide scale and biological presence in an otherwise geometric landscape. This combination of hard engineering lines and organic animal forms was a staple of Dutch landscape painting, and Mondrian's early work engages with this tradition seriously before moving definitively away from it.

The irrigation ditch is handled with careful attention to the reflective quality of still water — the sky colour mirrored in its surface, slightly darkened. The cows are rendered in dark, solid tones against the lighter meadow. The overall composition is strongly horizontal, emphasising the flatness of the reclaimed land.