This is the only time "Composition with Blue, Black, Yellow and Red" had been publicly displayed, one reason it is in pristine condition, according to Cooper.

Since the painting never had to be packed, shipped and cleaned like ones that have been frequently displayed, it remained free of the damage present in many Mondrians.

"It really shows a lot about his working methods, his brushwork, his technique, which makes it really valuable for study," Cooper said. "That's one of the reasons we jumped at this opportunity."

Born in 1872, Mondrian spent the early part of his career painting Dutch landscapes. He discovered cubism in the second decade of the 20th century, but tried to bring his work beyond it.

"Composition with Blue, Black, Yellow and Red" was painted after the artist's invention of a style he dubbed neo-plasticism, which he wrote about extensively in the Dutch journal De Stijl (The Style). The magazine called for the unification of the arts behind spiritual progress and social change.

During the two decades before World War II, when he moved from Paris to New York to escape the Nazis, Mondrian used a language of horizontal and vertical black lines, blocks of primary colors, white and gray.

Harvard's new painting is from the very beginning of this period.