Black and White Heifer

The Black and White Heifer (1904), at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, was painted during Mondrian's intensive period of animal study in the Brabant countryside. Heifers—young female cattle before their first calving—were specific subjects that Dutch painters had treated since the seventeenth century as representatives of the nation's agricultural wealth. The black-and-white coloring of the Dutch-breed Friesian cattle provided a naturally high-contrast subject that translated well into paint, and Mondrian's sustained attention to cattle in this period reflects his engagement with rural subjects that had deep roots in Dutch cultural identity.

The high-contrast black-and-white patterning of the Friesian heifer gives Mondrian a natural graphic quality to exploit. He renders the animal's form with attention to its proportions and the arrangement of its markings, using the color contrast to define the animal's solid, three-dimensional presence within the landscape setting.