DON’T MISS
IamExpat FairIamExpat Job BoardIamExpat Webinars
Newsletters
EXPAT INFO
CAREER
HOUSING
EDUCATION
LIFESTYLE
EXPAT SERVICES
NEWS & ARTICLES
Home
Lifestyle
German news & articles
Mondrian painting hung upside down for 77 years, says Düsseldorf curator
Never miss a thing!Sign up for our weekly newsletters with important news stories, expat events and special offers.
Keep me updated with exclusive offers from partner companies
By signing up, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with our privacy policy

Mondrian painting hung upside down for 77 years, says Düsseldorf curator

Never miss a thing!Sign up for our weekly newsletters with important news stories, expat events and special offers.
Keep me updated with exclusive offers from partner companies
By signing up, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with our privacy policy
or
follow us for regular updates:



Related Stories

Freiluftkino season: Open-air cinemas in Germany to visit this summerFreiluftkino season: Open-air cinemas in Germany to visit this summer
Blood donors offered free entry to Berlin vampire exhibitionBlood donors offered free entry to Berlin vampire exhibition
Young girl sleeps outside German Kita to "be there first”Young girl sleeps outside German Kita to "be there first”
Düsseldorf pizzeria found selling cocaine as “Pizza No. 40”Düsseldorf pizzeria found selling cocaine as “Pizza No. 40”
Live sex and blood-filled Stuttgart opera leaves 18 suffering nauseaLive sex and blood-filled Stuttgart opera leaves 18 suffering nausea
Dortmund bakery introduces “stoner rolls” to celebrate weed legalisationDortmund bakery introduces “stoner rolls” to celebrate weed legalisation
German restaurant scorned after charging 5 euros for toilet visitsGerman restaurant scorned after charging 5 euros for toilet visits
Borussia Dortmund scores fine for team bus taking up six parking spacesBorussia Dortmund scores fine for team bus taking up six parking spaces
For expats of all colours, shapes and sizes

Explore
Expat infoCareerHousingEducationLifestyleExpat servicesNews & articles
About us
IamExpat MediaAdvertisePost a jobContact usImpressumSitemap
More IamExpat
IamExpat Job BoardIamExpat HousingIamExpat FairWebinarsNewsletters
Privacy
Terms of usePrivacy policyCookiesAvoiding scams

Never miss a thing!Sign up for expat events, news & offers, delivered once a week.
Keep me updated with exclusive offers from partner companies
By signing up, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with our privacy policy


© 2025 IamExpat Media B.V.
© 2025 IamExpat Media B.V.
Oct 31, 2022
Olivia Logan

Editor at IamExpat Media

Editor for Germany at IamExpat Media. Olivia first came to Germany in 2013 to work as an Au Pair. Since studying English Literature and German in Scotland, Freiburg and Berlin she has worked as a features journalist and news editor.Read more

The curator of Düsseldorf's new "Mondrian. Evolution" exhibition has discovered the Dutch artist’s New York City I abstract has been hanging the wrong way round for 77 years.

Mondrian painting hung upside down in Düsseldorf

A curator at the Kunstsammlung art gallery in Düsseldorf has discovered that a painting by Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian has likely been displayed the wrong way round for 77 years. The 1941 artwork, New York City I, is made up of a series of interwoven red, yellow and blue tape lines on a white background, said to represent the New York skyline. 

Though it is not immediately obvious which way round the abstract painting should go, while she was putting together the exhibition, curator Susanne Meyer-Büser stumbled upon some clues suggesting that the picture may have long been hanging upside down. “The thickening of the grid should be at the top, like a dark sky,” Meyer-Büser told The Guardian. “Once I pointed it out to the other curators, we realised it was very obvious. I am 100 percent certain the picture is the wrong way around.”

A similar painting by Mondrian, who was born in The Netherlands in 1872, depicts another New York skyline. In the similarly named New York City, which hangs in the Paris Pompidou Centre, thickening lines gather in the painting's top corner. But it is a further observation made by Meyer-Büser that may provide the best proof of her theory. In a photograph of Mondrian’s studio, taken a few days after his death in 1944 and published in Town and Country magazine, New York City I can be seen pictured the other way round on an easel. 

Mondrian painting has been hanging upside down for 75 years https://t.co/TKyyo0g84H

— The Guardian (@guardian) October 28, 2022

Mistake is part of the Dutch artwork’s story

After the artist’s death his painting was displayed in New York City’s famous MoMA gallery. According to Meyer-Büser, MoMA curators also placed the picture the wrong way round. In 1980, it was transferred to the Düsseldorf Kunstsammlung where the error continued. 

Meyer-Büser is still unsure why this happened, “Was it a mistake when someone removed the work from its box? Was someone being sloppy when the work was in transit?”, she said. “It’s impossible to say.” One obvious explanation for the confusion is that the abstract work does not bear the artist’s signature, most likely because he did not consider it a finished piece when he died.

Despite her discovery, Meyer-Büser has decided that the work of neoplasticism in primary colours should continue to hang upside down, fearing that it could otherwise be damaged. “The adhesive tapes are already extremely loose and hanging by a thread,” Meyer-Büser told Reuters. “If you were to turn it upside down now, gravity would pull it into another direction. And it’s now part of the work’s story.”

By Olivia Logan