Strange how we have been fed some specific visual styles from certain artists. At first sight, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was by Van Gogh, not Mondrian. No squares of primary colour, no black lines on a white background.

It’s on display now in an exhibition called Mondrian Evolution at the Fondation Beyeler, marking the 150th anniversary of the Dutch artist’s birth.  

Mondrian’s early work was influenced not only by the Dutch landscape painting of the late 1800s but also by Symbolism and Cubism. It was only in the early 1920s that he began concentrating on a wholly non-representational output, consisting solely of those right angled shapes and clean colours we all know. I like it when exhibitions take us beyond where we might expect to go, widening our knowledge and experiences. Every day’s a learning day.

Oh, and gelukkige verjaardag, Mondrian!