Abstract Animal Paintings
Beginning in the early 20th century, abstract art became a leading style of modernism. Rather than portray the world in a way that represented reality, as had been the dominating style of Western art in the previous centuries, abstract paintings, prints and sculptures are marked by a shift to geometric forms, gestural shapes and experimentation with color to express ideas, subject matter and scenes.
Although abstract art flourished in the early 1900s, propelled by movements like Fauvism and Cubism, it was rooted in the 19th century. In the 1840s, J.M.W. Turner emphasized light and motion for atmospheric paintings in which concrete details were blurred, and Paul Cézanne challenged traditional expectations of perspective in the 1890s.
Some of the earliest abstract artists — Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint — expanded on these breakthroughs while using vivid colors and forms to channel spiritual concepts. Painter Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of the art movement, explored geometric abstraction partly owing to his belief in Theosophy, which is grounded in a search for higher spiritual truths and embraces philosophers of the Renaissance period and medieval mystics. Black Square, a daringly simple 1913 work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was a watershed statement on creating art that was free “from the dead weight of the real world,” as he later wrote.
Surrealism in the 1920s, led by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Meret Oppenheim and others, saw painters creating abstract pieces in order to connect to the subconscious. When Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York during the mid-20th century, it similarly centered on the process of creation, in which Helen Frankenthaler’s expressive “soak-stain” technique, Jackson Pollock’s drips of paint, and Mark Rothko’s planes of color were a radical new type of abstraction.
Conceptual art, Pop art, Hard-Edge painting and many other movements offered fresh approaches to abstraction that continued into the 21st century, with major contemporary artists now exploring it, including Anish Kapoor, Mark Bradford, El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu.
Find original abstract paintings, sculptures, prints and other art on 1stDibs.
Artist Comments
"This longhorn was located at a ranch in Southern Colorado," shares artist Heather Foster. "I am always amazed by longhorns because I expect them to be clumsy i...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1940s Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic, Archival Paper
1990s Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
Artist John Jaster paints an impressionistic painting of two White Mandarin ducks. He displays them with their reflections swirling in the water. With intricate...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
Artist Andres Lopez perceives the harmonic interaction of koi in a fish pond. He paints gestural impressions of their dance-like movements underwater. Their shi...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic, Archival Paper
Artist Comments
Artist Jennifer Ross paints a portrait of a bay horse in an orchard of flowering cherry trees. The majestic equine frolics under the blooms of spring. Cool blue terrain envelopes the background, giving the painting a sense of peace and composure. She bases the title on the Japanese haiku by Kobayashi Issa. The entire poem reads "What a strange thing! To be alive beneath cherry blossoms."
About the Artist
Artist Jennifer Ross creates intimate portraits of birds, nests and horses. Jennifer grew up surrounded by the art of her mother and grandfather. Her attempt to follow in their footsteps presented detours, however, and she ended up working in art galleries selling other's work. But her desire to paint continued to grow throughout the years. In 2008, a gift certificate...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Mixed Media, Archival Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Gesso, Mixed Media, Oil
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic, Archival Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
Early 2000s Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
Artist Comments
"I admire pelicans. They are really sensational birds," shares artist Andres Lopez. "Being lovers of the sea, these birds are not usually seen in any other part...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Mixed Media, Encaustic, Board
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic, Board
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Paper, Oil, Plastic
Late 20th Century Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Plastic, Paper, Oil
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Plastic, Oil, Paper
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Paper, Oil, Plastic
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Glass, Wood, Acrylic
1960s Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Watercolor, Gouache
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Metal
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Metal
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Metal
Artist Comments
Artist Emil Morhardt captures a group of acorn woodpeckers diving together from a tree. “They really do this,†says Emil. He spends hours with his lens trained on the birds as they argue loudly among themselves until finally taking a jump. The woodpeckers are painted on a thick layer of absorbent ground, giving them a slightly three-dimensional appearance against the gray-stained canvas.
About the Artist
Emil Morhardt is an acrylic painter from Santa Barbara, California who expresses his passion for birds through realistic acrylic paintings. He paints at home in a studio room that has large windows and a north-facing view of the mountains. He observes the animals from this window, watching roadrunners, foxes, bobcats, deer, and coyote run by. Surrounded by this wildlife, Emil paints bird portraits reminiscent of those by artist John James Audubon. He bases his paintings off hundreds of photographs he takes of birds in the wild and at wildlife recovery centers. Emil captures the freedom and inquisitiveness that birds display in the natural world. Before painting birds, he painted landscapes of San Francisco and the Eastern Sierra. Emil was raised in the high desert of California and learned to paint from his father, who was one of the early California watercolorists...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Mixed Media, Handmade Paper
1940s Abstract Animal Paintings
Gouache
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel, Ink
Artist Comments
"This girl was posing for me on a trip to visit a ranch in Pagosa Springs, Colorado," shares artist Heather Foster. "She looked, to me, as if she was wearing black knee socks...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
"This is a loosely painted scene based on a visit to a ranch in Stanley, New Mexico," shares artist Heather Foster. "I think they thought I was going to feed them. Sometimes a group of cattle will see me and run away like they imagine I'm thinking about burgers. But this group was curious and started towards me, with the ones in the distance moving at a quick pace, worried that they might miss out on something. Then we just paused & looked at each other for a bit." Heather captured the moment with her painting vividly portraying the scene. The cattle stand with inquisitive gazes before her. A bright underpainting shows through exemplifying the heat of the day and the amusing instance.
About the Artist
Artist Heather Foster captures an enduring image of the West. She paints the dramatic landscapes and stalwart animals she encounters on her adventures to ranches and rodeos. Heather says she has always known she wanted to be an artist. As a child, she spent her weekends and summers riding the bus into Philadelphia to attend art classes at Philadelphia College of Art, Moore College of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Over the years, she's moved around the country quite a bit and done many jobs - everything from driving a pedicab (a giant tricycle that transports passengers) to art restoration and conservation (for one project, she unstretched and then restretched a $17 million painting that would not fit through the door of the buyer's house). The one constant though, no matter where she lived or what side jobs she held, she always made space and time to paint. Today, she works from a home studio in Santa Fe, painting from thousands of reference photographs she shoots on her travels. Her artwork has been featured in the magazines Southwest Art, American Art Collector, and Western Art Collector, and published in the books Art Journey New Mexico and The Book of the Horse.
Words that describe this painting: ranch, cattle, cow, herd, animal, western, country, countryside, panoramic, New Mexico, impressionism, animals, landscape, western, acrylic painting, purple
Gathering on the Plains...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
A group of large sea lions emerges above calm sea waters just south of Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. “The great thing about marine mammals swimming aroun...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic
1960s Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Watercolor, Gouache
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic, Graphite
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Wood, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Archival Paper, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Paintings
Mixed Media
1950s Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil
1960s Abstract Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Animal Paintings
Oil