Mondrian studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Amsterdam in 1892 and immediately after his studies went to live in Paris where he was strongly influenced by the Cubist works of Picasso and Braque. World War I began while Mondrian was visiting home in 1914, and he was forced to remain in the Netherlands for the duration of the war staying at the Laren artist's colony, there meeting Theo van Doesburg, with whom Mondrian founded the de Stijl movement. After the war he returned to Paris where worked until 1938 when he moved to London for a short while before going to New York where he remained till his death. His geometric style of painting was enormously influential and his works hang in every important public collection world-wide