De Stijl
De Stijl was an abstract, modern art movement that originated in the Netherlands. It was founded by a group of Dutch artists in Amsterdam in 1917 and lasted until 1932. The most prominent members and founders of this movement were Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) and Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931). De Stijl translates from Dutch as "The Style". This movement developed in response to the atrocities and chaos of World War I, hence it is classified as an Interwar Period Artistic Movement. In essence, De Stijl artists tried to move away from the complicated and decorative elements of artwork that had been prevalent in the past and move towards greatly simplified art. As a result De Stijl artists created work that only included the basic three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue), black, white, rectangles, planes, and lines. De Stijl artwork was thus simplified to a grid form that was simple yet contained much meaning. The extremely simplified form of De Stijl artwork was an attempt of the artist to portray a kind of utopian perception of reality. Piet Mondrian, the most prominent De Stijl artist, believed that the real world was best represented/shown through its most basic, essential forms, hence the heavily simplified shapes and colors used. As a response to World War I, De Stijl art was precise and orderly yet harmonious, which contrasted with the chaos and disorderliness of World War I. The visually pleasing harmony of the De Stijl style has persisted even to this day where its simplistic, grid-like style can be seen in many things from modern advertisements to Microsoft's design of Windows 8.
Watch this awesome video on De Stijl!
Commentary: I feel much of the very modern art we see in its various forms such as in architecture, advertisements, web interfaces, and posters all have some roots in the De Stijl movements. Nowadays, in order to appeal to the newer generation, many things from the web design of shopping websites to posters advertising concerts have taken on very simplistic yet visually appealing forms. White is often used as a background while symmetry and geometric shapes like rectangles and squares in particular are used to create a beautiful, eye-catching design. I think the fact that people are shifting more and more away from intricate designs to more orderly and simple ones is a testament to the long-lasting and significant impact of the De Stijl movement.