Willows bordering an irrigation ditch near a farm building

Another canvas in Mondrian's sustained willow series, this 1903 work shows willows bordering an irrigation ditch near a farm building — bringing together several of the characteristic elements of his Dutch landscape study: the linear ditch, the irregular willow forms, the human-built structure, and the reflective water surface that introduces spatial ambiguity. Mondrian's repeated return to these elements constitutes a systematic enquiry into the visual logic of the Dutch flat landscape, laying the conceptual groundwork for the horizontal-vertical geometry of his later mature work. The Kunstmuseum Den Haag holds this canvas as part of its definitive early Mondrian collection.

Willows of varying thickness border the ditch in a naturalistic arrangement that is nonetheless subtly ordered. The farm building provides a solid rectilinear counterpoint to the organic tree forms. Mondrian's brushwork is confident and Post-Impressionist; reflections in the ditch water are handled with particular delicacy.