"The life of civilized man today is turning aside, little by little, from natural things, to become increasingly an abstract life. As natural (external) things become more and more automatic, real interest, as we see, turns rather to things internal. The truly modern man’s life is determined neither in a purely materialistic way nor purely by feeling. Rather, it assumes the guise of a more autonomic life of the human spirit grown aware of itself."

--Piet Mondrian