Abstract More Art
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.
Early 2000s Abstract More Art
Wood Panel, Laid Paper, Lithograph
2010s Abstract More Art
Magazine Paper, Newsprint
1990s Abstract More Art
Paper
Late 20th Century Abstract More Art
Paper, Found Objects, Color
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract More Art
Engraving
2010s Abstract More Art
Mirror
2010s Abstract More Art
Mixed Media, Digital
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Oil, Graphite
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Graphite, Oil
Early 2000s Abstract More Art
Paper, Board, Laid Paper, Color
20th Century Abstract More Art
Canvas, Oil
1990s Abstract More Art
Engraving
2010s Abstract More Art
Oil, Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract More Art
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract More Art
Paper, Panel, Laid Paper, Lithograph
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract More Art
Oil
2010s Abstract More Art
Oil, Acrylic, Canvas
Early 2000s Abstract More Art
Oil
2010s Abstract More Art
Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Oil, Graphite
Late 20th Century Abstract More Art
Paper, Found Objects, Black and White
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Acrylic, Oil
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract More Art
Bronze, Steel
2010s Abstract More Art
Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract More Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract More Art
Paper, Ink, Archival Ink, Archival Paper
2010s Abstract More Art
Paper, Glue, Varnish, Newsprint
2010s Abstract More Art
Paper, Ink, Archival Ink, Archival Paper
2010s Abstract More Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract More Art
Mixed Media, Paper, Oil Pastel, Monotype
2010s Abstract More Art
Paper, Ink, Giclée
2010s Abstract More Art
Paper, Ink
2010s Abstract More Art
Paper, Ink
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract More Art
Archival Paper, Digital
2010s Abstract More Art
Paper, Ink, Archival Paper
2010s Abstract More Art
Paper, Ink
2010s Abstract More Art
Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
Mid-20th Century Abstract More Art
Textile
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract More Art
Textile, Felt
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract More Art
Steel
2010s Abstract More Art
Mixed Media
2010s Abstract More Art
Blown Glass
2010s Abstract More Art
Blown Glass
2010s Abstract More Art
Cotton, Digital, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
2010s Abstract More Art
Cotton, Digital, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
2010s Abstract More Art
Cotton, Digital, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
2010s Abstract More Art
Cotton, Digital, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
2010s Abstract More Art
Cotton, Digital, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
2010s Abstract More Art
Cotton, Digital, Pigment, Archival Pigment, Digital Pigment
2010s Abstract More Art
Archival Paper, Archival Pigment