Abstract Mixed Media
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.
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1970s Abstract Mixed Media
Acrylic, Handmade Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Wood, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Glaze, Oil Crayon, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Thread, Paper, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Abstract Mixed Media
Paper, Magazine Paper, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Encaustic
Early 2000s Abstract Mixed Media
Acrylic, Pencil, Color Pencil
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Bronze, Copper
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Mirror, Film
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Wood, Mixed Media, Oil, Magazine Paper
1990s Abstract Mixed Media
Chalk, Offset, Oil Pastel, Mixed Media, Graphite, Lithograph
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Resin, Foam, Acrylic, Wood Panel, Archival Paper
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Organic Material, Mixed Media, Encaustic, Wood Panel
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Artist Comments
Artist Natalie George demonstrates a vibrant floral abstract with bright blushing hues. She paints larkspur flowers encased in expressive marks applied in bri...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media
Artist Comments
Inspired by abstracted nature, this artwork combines rain-like marks with organic shapes to form a structured composition. Layered papers and subtle neutral w...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Wood
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Steel, Wire
1970s Abstract Mixed Media
Wood
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Plaster, Wax, Acrylic, Pigment
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Glaze, Oil Crayon, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Glaze, Oil Crayon, Acrylic
1990s Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Gold Leaf
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Marble
1980s Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Drypoint, Etching, Aquatint, Screen
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Oil Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Resin, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Wood Panel
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Ink, Pigment
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic
1990s Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Acrylic
1980s Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Paper
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Charcoal, Mixed Media, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Wood, Acrylic
1960s Abstract Mixed Media
Aquatint
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Resin, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Wood Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Gold Leaf
1970s Abstract Mixed Media
Newsprint, Screen
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Pigment
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Steel
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Plaster, Wax, Acrylic, Pigment
1960s Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Ink, Gouache
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media
1960s Abstract Mixed Media
Brass
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Paper, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Cotton Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Pigment
1990s Abstract Mixed Media
Paper, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Acrylic, Panel, Pencil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Spray Paint, Acrylic, Monoprint