Part of a series of 63 works, Relational Painting Tondo No. 28 perfectly illustrates the singular compositional principles of Fritz Glarner. The innovative format of the tondo allowed Glarner to contrast two spatial systems: the horizontal-vertical of Mondrian with that of the concentric circle. The artist himself called the composition scheme for his circular pictures a visual squaring of the circle. “What holds good for the rectangular formats of Relational Painting also applies to the Tondo. For Glarner, the circle was the strongest and clearest form symbol that man—as opposed to the forms that are found growing in nature—had discovered. The circle is enclosed within itself and is still open to all sides. It is, at the same time, introverted and extroverted. Glarner used this dual quality of the circle and applied the counterpoint networks of the form and colour structure in such a way that they merge together without any empty spaces” (Margit Staber, op. cit., p. 47).

While Glarner had introduced a dynamic new form and color palette to the rigid dogma of Mondrian’s abstraction, the father of De Stijl maintained a strong influence over Glarner’s work (see fig. 1). After his arrival in New York in the fall of 1940, Mondrian established regular contact with Glarner: "In the three years and four months that Mondrian spent in New York until his death, he was a regular guest once a week at the Glarner's though the two painters generally met at Mondrian's apartment... Fritz Glarner had already been living in New York for four years when Piet Mondrian moved there from London. This fact is important to understand the relationship between the two painters. In his loyal attitude, Glarner always referred to the Dutch master of Neo-Plasticism, who was 29 years his senior, as a friend and teacher who provided him with stimulation. It would seem, however, in Mondrian's last creative phase, which coincided with Glarner's first independent period, that they stimulated each other to the same degree" (ibid., p. 17).