Burgoyne Diller (b. 1906) was among the first American artists to explore the possibilities of hard-edge geometric abstraction and colour field in his work. After attending the New York Art Students League and working with the WPA for a number of years, Diller's style became more geometric as he began to integrate European Neoplasticism and Constructivism (particularly the ideas of Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich) into his work.

Diller developed an innovative typology of three aesthetic "themes" that structured his artistic practice. The complex "Third Theme" is characterized by what the Whitney Museum calls "an elaborate grid structure” which incorporates horizontal and vertical bands of colour, geometric shapes, and structuring black lines which often resemble a broken grid.

Other “Third Theme” works are held in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and the McNay Art Museum. "Third Theme" drawings are held in the Morgan Library & Museum, the Portland Art Museum, and the Carnegie Museum of Art.