Irrigation ditch with young pollarded willow II

This painting of an irrigation ditch lined with young pollarded willows belongs to Mondrian's most intensive period of Dutch landscape study, in which he systematically explored the characteristic elements of the polder landscape: canals, willows, flat fields, reflected skies. Pollarded willows — their branches cut back annually to promote dense regrowth — are one of the most distinctively Dutch landscape elements, shaped by centuries of agricultural management. By studying these subjects repeatedly from slightly different angles, Mondrian was conducting a proto-systematic investigation of natural form that would eventually lead toward abstraction. The work is at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag.

The upright young willow trunks create a rhythmic vertical pattern against the horizontal of the ditch and its reflections. Mondrian's brushwork shows increasing Post-Impressionist influence, with visible directional strokes building surface texture. The palette is quiet — grey-greens, muted ochres, soft sky blues.