In Composition with Blue, Piet Mondrian generated complex effects from just two black lines, a small triangular blue field, a white surface, and the orientation of the frame. A subtle diagonal pulse is introduced by the interplay of the blue triangle at the lines’ intersection point (the sole element of color) and the largest, most multi-sided of the white planes. The tipping of the square canvas by forty-five degrees introduces a further element of dynamic opposition: a boundary that is diagonal relative to the grid it encloses. Mondrian is famous for reducing painting to its essential structural elements. But he also spent the second half of his career constantly experimenting in order to draw fresh results from those few variables.