Red and Blue Chair by Gerrit Rietveld

The chair is made of lacquered wood. In excellent condition.

Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964) was a Dutch architect and furniture designer. The first prototypes of the chair were build in 1918 of unstained beech wood and were not painted until the early 1920s. Fellow member of De Stijl and architect Bart van der Leck saw his original model and suggested that he add bright colours. He built the new model of thinner wood and painted it entirely black with areas of primary colors attributed to De Stijl movement. The effect of this color scheme made the chair seem to almost disappear against the black walls and floor of the Schröder House where it was later placed. The areas of color appeared to float, giving it an almost transparent structure.

In Rietveld's instructions in how to build the chair he informs the craftsman to print a verse from "Der Aesthet" by Christian Morgenstern underneath the seat: 

Wenn Ich sitze, möchte Ich nicht

sitzen, wie Mein Sitzfleisch möchte

sondern wie Mein Sitzgeist sich,

säße er, den Stuhl sich flöchte.

He believed that there was a greater goal for the furniture desigeer than just physical comfort: the well-being and comfort of the spirit. (bron: https:/www.moma.org/collection/works/4044)