Van Doesburg founded the magazine De Stijl with Mondrian in 1917. De Stijl movement was influenced by Cubist painting as well as by the mysticism and the ideas about ideal geometric forms in the neoplatonic philosophy. De Stijl proposed ultimate simplicity and abstraction by using only straight horizontal and vertical lines and rectangular forms. Furthermore, their formal vocabulary was limited to the primary colours, red, yellow, and blue, and the three primary values, black, white, and grey. The works avoided symmetry and attained aesthetic balance by the use of opposition. Vertical and horizontal lines are positioned in layers or planes that do not intersect, thereby allowing each element to exist independently and unobstructed by other elements In 1924 their different concepts about space and time were split between Van Doesburg and Mondrian. Van Doesburg launched a new concept for his art, Elementarism, which was characterized by the diagonal lines and rivaled with Mondrian's Neo-Plasticism. The works of De Stijl would influence the Bauhaus style and the international style of architecture.
