sea after sunset 1909
Mondriaan's development since 1908 is remarkable. He started painting portraits of women again which evolved into a symbolic direction. (see Evolution left side bar) On the other side his painting style became more loose and expressive under the influence of modern Dutch painters like Jan Sluijters and Leo van Gestel.
Around 1908 Mondriaan became interested in Theosophy. In 1908 Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher gave lectures on Theosophy in Holland. It is likely that Mondriaan attended his lectures in Amsterdam. Steiner had developed ideas about the existence of a visible and an invisible world and how to experience these. These ideas had a great impact on him. Until his death in 1944 in New York a book with a collection of Steiner's lectures went with him where ever he lived . In 1909 he became a member of the Theosophical Association. He was an active searcher for (esoteric) knowledge on the structure and nature of (hidden) reality and a somewhat exotic person at that time. He practiced yoga and once when he stayed in the Dutch painters community Domburg, the Dutch female painter Charley Toorop mentioned "that creepy Mondriaan sitting on the beach in lotus position". Mondriaaan frequently visited Domburg from 1908 to 1914. Domburg was popular among painters because of the special nature of the light near the sea. He painted many landscapes and experimented with pointillism and luminism to study the nature and sensation of light. In that period he was also influenced by cubist painters during his visits to Paris but eventually did not follow their path.
From 1914 on he started to experiment with his (now wellknown) horizontal and vertical lines which could, according to Mondrian, express truth if they are brought to harmony and rithm.