See more objects with the tag rectilinear, De Stijl, chair, primary colors.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1919

  • Work on this object began.

1960

  • Work on this object ended.

2015

2017

2025

  • You found it!

Red Blue Chair

This is a chair. It was designed by Gerrit Rietveld. It is dated designed 1919; executed ca 1955. Its medium is painted and stained pine and plywood. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Originally conceived in shades of black, white, and gray, this chair was produced in a primary-color palette, starting in 1923. It was one of the first three-dimensional products of the De Stijl movement. Its form took inspiration from chair designs by Frank Lloyd Wright.

This object was donated by George R. Kravis II. It is credited Gift of George R. Kravis II.

  • Mondrian Stool
  • plexiglass (edgelite green), softballs.
  • The Linda and Irwin R. Berman Stool Collection.
  • 2013-50-47
  • Tension Rod Table
  • ebonized purpleheart, patinated bronze.
  • Gift of Kenneth Frampton and Silvia Kolbowski.
  • 2016-3-1

Our curators have highlighted 6 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

  • Folding Chair Armchair
  • maple (wood), paint, metal.
  • Museum purchase from General Acquisition Endowment.
  • 1985-29-1-a/d

Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 85.7 × 66 × 83.8 cm (33 3/4 in. × 26 in. × 33 in.)

It is signed

paper label with "G.A.v.d. GROENEKAN Utrechtsweg 315, DE BILT" [typescript]/ "NEDERLAND." [handwritten in pen], taped to bottom of chair

Cite this object as

Red Blue Chair; Designed by Gerrit Rietveld (Dutch, 1888–1964); painted and stained pine and plywood; H x W x D: 85.7 × 66 × 83.8 cm (33 3/4 in. × 26 in. × 33 in.); Gift of George R. Kravis II; 2018-22-36

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/404536677/ |title=Red Blue Chair |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>