Museum De Lakhenal
Leiden, NL

circa 1916

This artwork by Van Doesburg no longer relies on depictions of objects from the observable world; instead, it is directly composed of abstract elements, such as intersecting circles and their components. Within Theo van Doesburg's body of work, the notion of atmosphere plays a pivotal role, and this painting, titled Atmosphere, is significant as it marks his first foray into complete abstraction. Van Doesburg created this piece circa 1916, a period during which he developed a novel concept of space, influenced in part by Einstein's theory of relativity.

In 1918, Van Doesburg crossed paths with the Belgian sculptor Georges Vantongerloo, whose assertion, 'Volume + Emptiness = Space,' aligned with Van Doesburg's intuitive understanding of space. The mutual admiration for each other's artistic contributions is evident in Van Doesburg's proposal to trade his work Atmosphere for Vantongerloo's sculpture Construction in the Sphere.