A resurgence of interest in Expressionism, Pop art, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and other movements gained steam among artists of the 1970s and ’80s, in part as a reaction to the austerity of the prevailing minimalism and Conceptual art of the era. A decadent, bold and brash art style called Neo-Expressionism saw painters returning to figural representation, creating highly textured works that were imbued with intensely personal narratives.
Neo-Expressionist paintings are sensuous in nature and highly subjective in meaning. Expressive brushwork, highly pigmented colors and layered forms and materials lent sculptural attributes to the work and were used to depict symbolic narratives from history, mythology and the artist’s personal experience.
Prominent figures such as Jean-Michel Basquiat led the Neo-Expressionist movement in the United States with paintings and prints that were raw, emotional and often violent in nature. In Germany, Die Neuen Wilden (the “New Fauves”) was the name given to a group of postwar artists that included the likes of sculptor Georg Baselitz and Gerhard Richter, a painter and photographer who explored the possibilities of both abstraction and realism, sometimes in a single piece. The work of the New Fauves — labeled as such for its return to Fauvism’s textured brushwork and use of vibrant colors — shares commonalities with Neo-Expressionism, and Baselitz was a pioneer of the movement in Europe. In addition, Willem de Kooning’s pulsating action paintings and Julian Schnabel’s experimentation with the materiality of paintings also took shape during this period.
“I was trying to make paintings different from the paintings that I saw a lot of at the time, which were mostly minimal, and they were highbrow and alienating, and I wanted to make very direct paintings that most people would feel the emotion behind when they saw them,” said Basquiat.
Neo-Expressionism generated some polarizing opinions, with some celebrating the revival of personal subjectivity in art while others criticizing the movement for being too commercially driven and nostalgic. But most experts agree that Neo-Expressionism was a huge commercial success and culturally impactful, paving the way for the postmodern work of artists like Richter and Sigmar Polke.
Find original Neo-Expressionist paintings, prints, mixed-media works and other art on 1stDibs.
$6,560Sale Price|20% Off
Fleshy as the T-Bone
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Matthew Marcot is an American, self-taught artist specializing in Abstract and Neo-Expressionism, and primary mediums are semiotics and collage. An unde...
Canvas, Tape, Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Permanent Marker, Color Pencil
$12,500
Heartland 2
By Ford Crull
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Art is the heart of the matter.
Canvas, Oil Crayon, Oil
$3,600
1980's Mixed Media Painting Glitter Feminist Pop Art Miami Artist Sheila Elias
By Sheila Elias
Located in Surfside, FL
Titled: SIlver Bullet, Hand signed, dated and titled. Sheet measures 22 X 30 From her Pompidou Series (1979-1981) built around the X in the raw, exposed architecture of the Centre Georges Pompidou in the center of Paris designed by Richard Rodgers and Renzo Piano. Sheila Elias (born in Chicago, Illinois) is an American artist. Her work is Neo Expressionist, Feminist Pop Art. Her works have been featured in exhibitions across North America and at the Liberty show at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Elias graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago, lives and works in Miami, Florida and in New York City. As an artist and art historian, Elias works with the layers of life and art history, seeking in it a connection between art aesthetics and social consciousness. She has exhibited with diverse artists, Larry Rivers, Bob Stanley, Ford Crull, Sol LeWitt, Mark Tobey, Walter Darby Bannard, Clyde Butcher. Her work spans the disciplines of painting, digital mixed media, sculpture, installation and performance. Her inspiration to be an artist began with the work that Matisse created (La Cirque) in the library of the Art Institute of Chicago. Paul Wieghardt (from the Bauhaus School in Germany), was her art teacher at SAIC. She was influenced by the Marisol, Claes Oldenburg and Jean Dubuffet. Her sculptures also reveal the influence of Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. Select Exhibitions: Museo Vault in Wynwood Art District, Miami Coral Springs Museum of Art, Sheila Elias: Somewhere-Anywhere, Coral Springs, Fla. Lila G. Martinez Gallery, Cambridge, Mass. “Painted Pixels” Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, FL (Solo Exhibition) “Salon Series” The Sagamore Hotel, Miami Beach, FL (Group Exhibition) “The Invisible Woman” Concrete Space, Doral, FL (Group Exhibition) “eye-Pad” Silvana Facchini Gallery, Wynwood, Miami, FL “Jewels” Buccellati, Bal Harbour, FL “Chai Contemporary” Jewish Museum, Miami Beach, FL “Tribute to Africa” Silvana Facchini Gallery, Wynwood, Miami, FL The Bakehouse Art Complex, Wynwood, Miami, FL Apple Store “iPaint on my iPad,” Chicago, IL The Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge, Mass. The Napoleon Grand Salon at The Deauville Hotel, Miami Beach, Fla. Bass Museum, "I Wanna Be Loved by You: Photographs of Marilyn Monroe," Miami Beach, Fla. Boca Raton Museum of Art Norton Museum of Art Bass Museum, Miami Beach, Fla. Jewish Museum of Florida Kim Foster Gallery, "Beyond the Camera...," New York, NY Silvana Facchini Gallery, "Living in Miami," Miami, Fla. South Florida / Art Center, "Reconnect," Miami Beach, Fla. Maryland Federation of Art, "Art on Paper 2001" Corcoran Gallery, Annapolis, MD, juror David C. Levy Veneto Gallery, Miami, Fla. Margulies Taplin Gallery, Bay Harbour, Fla. "Secret Gardens," Travelling Exhibition, Lowe Art Museum, Miami, Fla. Public Art Program, City of Orlando, Fla. Lowe Museum, University of Miami, Fla. Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Hollywood, Fla. Bernard Biderman Gallery, New York, NY Metro Dade Cultural Resource Center, Miami, Fla. Huntsville Museum of Art New England Center for Contemporary Art San Diego Art Institute, CA Anne Jaffe Gallery, Bay Harbour, Fla. Ratner Gallery, Chicago, IL Santa Monica Heritage Museum, Los Angeles, Calif. Paula Allan Gallery, New York, NY. Otis Parsons...
Acrylic Polymer, Glitter, Mixed Media, Acrylic
$104,901
Hombori
Located in New York, NY
This Miquel Barceló work exemplifies the artist's distinct handling of paint and mixed media to create a textured canvas and expressive work.
Canvas, Mixed Media
"Quante cose ho visto" by Enzio Wenk, 2016 - Mixed Media, Neo-Expressionism
By Enzio Wenk
Located in Bresso, IT
Translated title: "How many things I've seen..." Mixed media on canvas. The dimensions refer to the painting with the frame.
Mixed Media
Another Woman
By Ford Crull
Located in Brooklyn, NY
“It is terrifying to paint. When you start out, you are faced with this great unknown. And you think, am I ever going to paint again? Yet, as you work, it starts to formulate itself...
Oil Crayon, Oil, Archival Paper, Graphite
'Deep Blue With Pamela' original signed pastel portrait drawing purple and green
Located in Milwaukee, WI
'Deep Blue With Pamela' is an original signed pastel portrait. The drawing presents a portrait, presumably of Pamela, who Reggie has rendered in greens and yellows and pinks against ...
Paper, Pastel
Tribal Rhythm
Located in West Hollywood, CA
In Haleh Mashian’s painting, “Tribal Rhythm,” a forward-facing female figure emerges amidst sweeping, gestural brushstrokes rendered in ethereal white. The dynamic movement of these ...
Acrylic
$22,400Sale Price|20% Off
Blue Green Cross Flower
By Ford Crull
Located in Brooklyn, NY
“My work can be understood through the mind, but it is best felt with the heart, experienced through the emotions, recognized as a manifestation of the spiritual that is born on the ...
Canvas, Oil Crayon, Oil
Sun Song
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Matthew Marcot is an American, self-taught artist specializing in Abstract and Neo-Expressionism, and primary mediums are semiotics and collage. An unde...
Canvas, Charcoal, Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic
Kundalini
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Matthew Marcot is an American, self-taught artist specializing in Abstract and Neo-Expressionism, and primary mediums are semiotics and collage. An unde...
Mixed Media
$15,000
Babybel
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Jordan Barker is a New York City based mixed media artist. Initially inspired by found objects, his first piece was a coffee table that was created from a wooden palate found in the ...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Foam Board