Vertical Constellation with Bomb by Alexander Calder

Mondrian's Paris studio, restored to color, from Frans Postma, 26 Rue du Départ: Mondrian's Studio in Paris (Berlin, 1995)
Mondrian’s Paris studio, restored to color, from Frans Postma, 26, Rue du Départ: Mondrian’s Studio in Paris (Berlin, 1995). Frans Postma and Cees Boekraad studied black-and-white photographs of the studio and, with the help of scientists, were able to determine the color scheme of the room. The color reconstruction was produced with the assistance of Hans de Herder, RKD.

Calder's early work was figurative, but that changed in the fall of 1930 when a friend invited him to visit Mondrian's studio. A close friend of Mondrian's, Maude van Loon, describes the studio:

The front door was nothing special; just a wooden door. Between the front door and the studio there was a little vestibule and a dark corridor. Then you went through his door and suddenly there was a marvelous white studio with a colour plane here and there. It was like stepping into paradise….

The intense geometry, order, light, design, and color of the room was an extraordinary sight. Calder was deeply affected and later remarked, “this one visit gave me a shock that started things,” referring to how he developed abstract mobile and stabile forms.