Lesson 8 Mondrian’s Art

    • Let’s make art with rectangles.

Warm-up Notice and Wonder: Piet Mondrian’s Art

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

Image consisting of many connected rectangles and squares of different sizes and colors.
Image consisting of many connected rectangles of different sizes and colors.

Activity 1 My Mondrian Outline

Create an outline for art in the Mondrian style, starting with an 18-by-24 grid.

Your artwork should:

  • be partitioned into at least 12 rectangles 

  • include two different rectangles that have the same area

  • include at least one rectangle whose area is a prime number

Try at least one of these challenges. Make a design where:

  • all but two of the rectangles have a prime number for its area

  • no two rectangles share a side entirely

Activity 2 Analyze the Rectangles

Trade artwork with your partner.
Using your partner’s artwork, look for and describe each of the following:

  1. Rectangles that have the same area

  2. Rectangles with an area that is a prime number

  3. Rectangles with an area that is a composite number

  4. Which challenge they completed