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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2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Wood, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Concrete
1970s Abstract Mixed Media
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Paper, Acrylic
Artist Comments
An abstract minimalist composition is divided into two distinct patterned sections. Detailed lines and irregular circles define the upper area, while small, t...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media
Artist Comments
Artist Terri Bell demonstrates abstract geometric figures in organized patterns. She balances distinct sections of circles and close linear work. “It organi...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media
1980s Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Handmade Paper, Monoprint
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Acrylic, Board
1970s Abstract Mixed Media
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Spray Paint, Wood Panel, Acrylic Polymer, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Acrylic, Wood Panel, Archival Paper
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Oil, Wood Panel
1960s Abstract Mixed Media
Paper, Ink, Intaglio
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
1970s Abstract Mixed Media
Paper, Etching, Aquatint
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Oil, Spray Paint, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Plaster, Ink
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Cotton, Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Oil Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Enamel
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Graphite
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Acrylic, Canvas, Thread
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Encaustic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Plaster
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Acrylic, Archival Paper
1960s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Wood, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Ink, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Resin, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Mirror, Film
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Wax, Oil, Wood Panel, Pigment
1960s Abstract Mixed Media
Stone, Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Ink, Handmade Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Paper, Acrylic, Charcoal, Gouache
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Oil, Paper, Glue, Charcoal, Ink, Stretcher Bars
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Resin, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Acrylic, Board
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Paper, Acrylic, Wood Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Plaster, Glaze, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
1990s Abstract Mixed Media
Chalk, House Paint, Acrylic, Board, Laid Paper
1960s Abstract Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Board
1970s Abstract Mixed Media
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Paper, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Plaster, Mixed Media, Acrylic
Early 2000s Abstract Mixed Media
Wood, Mixed Media, House Paint