Pure shape
1918 was an important year for Rietveld. He had already established his own furniture workshop. He became a contributor to ‘De Stijl’, a periodical that was established in 1917 and edited by Theo van Doesburg. The artists of ‘De Stijl’ supported a universal art, with a passion for purity. Art had to be abstract, comprise only straight lines and incorporate only the colours red, yellow and blue. The true pure shape would exist of straight lines and these pure, primary colours, emphasising the spatial effect of the design.

The commission
Rietveld met Truus Schröder-Schräder when he was still working in his father's workshop. He refurbished a room in the stately mansion in Utrecht where she lived with her husband and children. Rietveld ensured that the room fulfilled her personal requirements. In 1923, after her husband had died, she asked Rietveld to design a house for her and her children with a sittingroom on the second floor. Her input had considerable influence on the final result of the Rietveld Schröder House. This commission gave Rietveld the opportunity to shape his ideas with respect to living space.

Dynamic living space
In Rietveld's opinion, conventional houses lead to a passive life style. He wanted living in a home to be a conscious act. The design of the Rietveld Schröder House is based on this conviction. Whatever the occupant wanted to do – bathe, sleep, cook – she always had to give it some thought and do something for it: create the bathroom by unfolding a partition, make up the sofa bed, fold out the table. Just as Rietveld's red-and-blue chair manifests active sitting, the Rietveld Schröder House manifests conscious and active living. Truus Schröder-Schräder lived there from 1924 until her death in 1985.

Restoration
The house was restored in stages from 1974 to 1987. Work was first carried out on the exterior (1974) after which the garden and the fence were restored (1983). It was not until after Mrs Schröder passed away that restoration activities commenced on the interior of the house (1986-1987). The restoration is based largely on original designs, photographs and other information, but some later modifications were preserved as well, such as a bathtub dating from 1936.