Composition in Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black

Piet Mondrian (Dutch), Composition in Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black, 1921. Oil on canvas, 61 x 61 cm. Paris. 

It is relatively easy to determine the presence of the Golden Ratio in Mondrian's abstract compositions, with their crisp blocks of primary colors separated by bold black lines.This 1921 Composition appears to have been constructed with the Golden Ratio in mind; the grid conforms to Phi.

Whether Mondrian intentionally deployed the Golden Ratio in his work is another matter. Charles Bouleau contended that this proportion was part of the artist's geometric arsenal, stating in The Painter's Secret Geometry that "French painters never dared to go as far into pure geometry and the strict use of the golden section as did the cold and pitiless Dutchman Piet Mondrian" (247). However, in his 2001 Mondrian catalog raisonnée, Yves-Alain Bois categorically rejected the idea that the Golden Ratio played a role in the creation of Mondrian's compositions: "As far as I know, Mondrian never used a system of proportion (if one excepts the modular grids he painted in 1918-1919, but there the system is deduced from the format of the paintings themselves: they are divided in 8 x 8 units).” He adds, somewhat unconvincingly because of its uncertainty, "I also vaguely remember a remark by Mondrian mocking arithmetic computations with regard to his work" (178). 

It is possible, therefore, that Composition in Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black is an example of a work in which the Golden Ratio is present only by coincidence.