Doesburg, Theo van

orig. Christian Emil Maries Küpper

(born Aug. 30, 1883, Utrecht, Neth.—died March 7, 1931, Davos, Switz.) Dutch painter, decorator, and art theorist. Originally involved in theatre, in 1900 he began painting under the influence of Post-Impressionism and Fauvism. After meeting the painter Piet Mondrian in 1915, he turned to geometric abstraction. He was instrumental in founding the De Stijl group and the avant-garde periodical De Stijl. His advocacy of the geometric style was well received at the Bauhaus, where he taught briefly and influenced Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In 1926 Doesburg wrote his manifesto, “De Stijl”, and in 1930 he moved to Paris and opened a studio, which became the focus of the movement.

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