De Stijl

デ・ステイル / 1917–1931 / Style / Geometric Abstraction

Restricts the vocabulary to vertical, horizontal and primary color, building universal order from balance.

De Stijl — De Stijl magazine, vol. 4 no. 3 front cover, 1921 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
De Stijl magazine, vol. 4 no. 3 front cover, 1921 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
De Stijl — Rietveld, Schröder House, 1924 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
Rietveld, Schröder House, 1924 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
De Stijl — Rietveld, Red and Blue Chair, 1918 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0
Rietveld, Red and Blue Chair, 1918 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 · CC0

At a glance

Visual cues

  • Vertical and horizontal
  • Red, blue, yellow
  • White planes
  • Asymmetric equilibrium

Best used for

  • Brand systems that grow from few rules
  • Uniting abstraction with lucid order

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Detailed guidance and sourcesProduction rules, reference works, comparisons, research and citation formats

Dictionary entry

Type
A rectilinear sans; treat letters as rectangles too
Composition
Divide the plane with orthogonals; shift the weight off center
Material
White, black, primaries; ration the colored planes
Caution
Not just red-blue-yellow squares. Design the ratios and the asymmetric balance.
Further study
Theo van Doesburg / Piet Mondrian / Vilmos Huszár

Related entries

Often confused with

More from Geometric Abstraction

Continue through styles in the same Geometric Abstraction family, prioritised by shared effects.

Browse all Geometric Abstraction entries

Cite this entry

The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.

Link
https://indexstyle.org/styles/de-stijl
Markdown
[De Stijl — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/de-stijl)
HTML
<a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/de-stijl">De Stijl — IndexStyle</a>

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