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Abstract Paintings For Sale
Style: Modern
Style: Old Masters
This Week's Listings Only
"Jo"
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Ashley John is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899 - 1985) Gershon Benjamin is a painter of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene. He had a pro...
Category

20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstract Figurative Painting NY Gallery Label Mystery Painting Colorful 1940
Located in Buffalo, NY
Abstract figurative painting on board. Carl Bredemier label on the reverse. Framed. Oil on board
Category

1940s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Archival Paper

Color Block Abstracted Still Life with Bust
Located in Soquel, CA
Color Block Abstracted Still Life with Bust by Ellis Hopkins (American, b. 1952). This bold composition combines the language of still life with geometric abstraction. Vivid blocks...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Board, Acrylic, Masonite

Bay Area Abstract Geometric Painting with Red Circle
Located in Soquel, CA
Bay Area Abstract Geometric Painting with Red Circle by Ellis Hopkins (American, b. 1952). This abstract composition features bold brushstrokes and highly contrasting colors. A lar...
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Masonite

Given Time 2, Painting, Acrylic on Paper
Located in Yardley, PA
In Times of Corona many people get more time, more time with their families. They slow down, running for money and success and even more money and power are replaced by self-reflecti...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Vintage Mid-Century Modern Abstract Figurative Oil Painting - All Together
Located in Bristol, GB
ALL TOGETHER Size: 55 x 64.5 cm (including frame) Oil on canvas A richly textured mid-century abstract figurative painting, executed in oil onto canvas. Simple yet effective in it...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Tableau
Located in PARIS, FR
Sublime painting by French ceramist Gilbert Portanier, measuring 61 x 49.5 cm and dating from 1983
Category

Late 20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Ceramic

Changing Everything Forever: River #7 bright colorful abstract landscape
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Changing Everything Forever: River #7 Exuberant brushwork, bright colorful abstract landscape Acrylic, w some dirt, some grass, on canvas. Painted at the Blackstone-Seekonk River.
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting Modern Pastel Monoprint WPA Jewish Artist
Located in Surfside, FL
Louis Wolchonok was a social realist painter and member of the Woodstock Art Association. His work was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Academy of Design...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil

I do not need Sunglasses, Painting, Acrylic on Other
Located in Yardley, PA
"I do not need Sunglases" is a vibrant and dynamic acrylic artwork on cardboard. The colors are all different shades of red, orange, yellow and a bit of white and grey. It is a happy...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Rare Canadian Modernist Sporting Art Fishing Still Life Signed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique signed Canadian fishing oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Image size, 24L x 30H.
Category

1940s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"The Couple" Colorful Abstract Modern Portrait Painting of a Couple
Located in Houston, TX
Colorful abstract modern portrait painting of a couple by Texas artist Robert Sandman. Alternatively title "Unconscious Uncoupling" by the artist. While...
Category

1980s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Landscape Variations No. 2 - Sardonic Interlude
Located in Boston, MA
Signed and dated lower left: "Ben Norris / 29 - XII - 50". With label verso: "Landscape Variations II - Sardonic Interlude / by Ben Norris". From the Estate of the Artist. Exhibite...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Archie Rand Abstract Expressionist Cartoon Oil Painting Dusseldorf
Located in Surfside, FL
"Dusseldorf, Germany" 1993, oil on canvas, hand signed and dated lower left, Canvas (unframed):18 X 48. framed: 19.5 X 49.5 Provenance: directly from the artist. Exhibited at Phyllis Kind Gallery in NYC in 1987. Archie Rand (American, born 1949) is an artist from Brooklyn, New York. Rand's work as a painter and muralist is held in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. His graphic works and books are held by the Metropolitan Museum Of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute Of Chicago, The Brooklyn Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, and The New York Public Library; and are owned by Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown, and Johns Hopkins universities. Born in Brooklyn, Rand received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in cinegraphics from the Pratt Institute, having studied previously at the Art Students League of New York. His first exhibition was in 1966, at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York. He has since had over 100 solo exhibitions, and his work has been included in over 200 group exhibitions. He is currently Presidential Professor of Art at Brooklyn College which granted him the Award for Excellence in Creative Achievement in 2016. Before joining Brooklyn College, Rand was the chair of the Department of Visual Arts at Columbia University. The Italian Academy For Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University presented him with The Siena Prize in 1995. He was awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Foundation Fellowship in 1999 and was made a Laureate of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, which awarded him the Achievement Medal for Contributions in the Visual Arts. In 2002 he received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching from Columbia University. In 2002 he became the artistic advisor to film director Ang Lee for his production of The Hulk, and was asked by Milestone Films to provide a commentary track for the DVD release of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s classic 1955 film The Mystery of Picasso. Archie Rand’s earliest major works are “The Letter Paintings” (or “The Jazz Paintings”) (1968–71), a radically positioned series of technically inventive, mural-sized canvases. The Letter Paintings, by incorporating the names of mainly male and female African-American musicians, undermined prevailing aesthetic categories by conflating many contemporary movements including Conceptual Art, Color Field, Pattern and Decoration, diary entry and social commentary. In 1974 Rand received a commission from Congregation B’nai Yosef in Brooklyn. Rand was asked to paint thematic murals on the complete 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m2) interior surfaces of the synagogue. The work took three years, and completing this commission made Rand the author of the only narratively painted synagogue in the world and the only one we know of since the 2nd Century Dura-Europos. The religious legal controversy raised by placing wall paintings in a traditionally iconoclastic space was resolved by the verdict of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, then considered to be the world’s leading Talmudic scholar, who declared the paintings to be in conformity with the law. His subsequent turn to figuration may have been influenced by his friendship with Philip Guston, whose own work was transformed in the late 1960s. Like Guston, Rand "chafed at the limitations of purely abstract forms." A near-cult figure who started out as a child prodigy and whose admirers range from John Ashbery to Julian Schnabel. Rand’s paintings display a vast and savvy menu of inventive and finely executed approaches. He has completed many series after the works of Paul Celan, Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, Eugenio Montale, Yehuda Amichai, Rainer Maria Rilke, Samuel Beckett/Paul Eluard and Jack Spicer. Working often with poets, he has produced books and continues to engage in publishing collaborative projects. He maintained a correspondence with the American British Jewish painter R.B. Kitaj. In 2008, on a warehouse wall, Rand mounted the painting, “The 613”, which at 1700 square feet (17’ x 100’) is nearly twice the size of James Rosenquist’s F-111. It is one of the largest freestanding paintings ever made. Reminiscent of “The Segments” paintings it is intimidatingly enormous. Paradoxically, despite the raucous cartoony bytes that shoot colorful flashes from the manic surface, “The 613” glows warmly. Its overall effect is strangely calming and majestic. In an article on a 2011 exhibition of Rand's "Had Gadya" series, David Kaufmann wrote: Rand displayed his work in 15 solo exhibitions between 2008 and 2017, many of them showcasing paintings done after Scripture, or his workings with poets: Including “Had Gadya, 2005”, Borowsky Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (2011); “Gods Change, Prayers Are Here To Stay (after Yehuda Amichai), 2000", Katz Gallery, Atlanta, GA (2014); “Psalm 68, 1994”, Derfner Museum, Riverdale, NY (2014); “The Chapter Paintings”, Tribeca Gallery, NY (2015); “Men Who Turn Back (after Eugenio Montale), 1995", SRO Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2016); “Sixty Paintings From the Bible” & “The Book of Judith, 2012”, Cleveland State University Galleries, Cleveland, OH (2016) & The American Jewish Museum, Pittsburgh, PA (2017); “Archie Rand: Early Works With Poetry: Jack Spicer, 1991 and Samuel Beckett/Paul Eluard, 1993”, St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY (2017). "The 613" In 2015 Blue Rider/Penguin/Random House published The 613, allotting one color plate per page for each of the 614 units in the painting. The Wall Street Journal labeled The 613 as “dynamic…remarkable…thrilling” The New York Times selected the book as “Editors' Choice” and praised it in two separate reviews calling it “wonderfully garish” and declaring that “nothing prepared the art world for 'The 613.' Recent Activity In 2016 Rand showed two bodies of work that were done in Italy, “La Certosa Di Pontignano, 1995” and “Mount Etna, 2005,” at The Interchurch Center Galleries, New York. From 2016 to 2017 he served as the Curator and Juror for the Governor of Wyoming’s Capitol Arts Exhibition at The Wyoming State Museum, Cheyenne, WY. A 2017 exhibition, “Archie Rand: Early Works With Poetry”, featured two series of work from 1991 and 1993 after poems by Jack Spicer and Samuel Beckett/Paul Eluard. This painting was exhibited in the Phyllis Kind Gallery in NY in 1987. (Phyllis Kind was an American art dealer active in Chicago and New York. She promoted the work of the Chicago Imagists, The Monster Roster and The Hairy Who and outsider artists. Kind opened a gallery in Chicago in 1967. Called Pro Grafica Arte, the gallery dealt in master prints and drawings. In 1975, she opened a gallery on Spring Street in New York's SoHo district. She gave some of the artists in the movement their first solo shows: Jim Nutt and Gladys Nilsson...
Category

1980s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Bulldog Drummond and the Great Coca-Cola Mystery by Richard Merkin
Located in Hudson, NY
An iconic mixed media example of Richard Merkin's art. Bulldog Drummond and the Great Coca-Cola Mystery (1965) Mixed media on paper 51" x 33" 53" x 35" x 2" framed Signed "Merkin" ...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Mott Street - NYC Street Scene on Bright Orange Paper, Original, Framed
Located in Chicago, IL
Patrick Vale Mott Street acrylic and ink on paper 20h x 28w in 50.80h x 71.12w cm PKV002 Artist Patrick Vale garnered international attention in 2012 whe...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Archival Paper, Ink

Vintage American Modernist Fauvist Landscape Oklahoma Lake Signed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract landscape painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1970. Signed. Image size 24L x 18H. Housed in a period modern frame.
Category

1970s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Modern Light Blue, Brown, and Black Geometric Abstract Circle Pattern Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Modern light blue, brown, and black geometric abstract circle pattern painting by textile designer John Little. The work was created as a proposed design for a wallpaper and features the original color codes in the front lower left corner. Currently hung in a solid black frame with a large white margin. Dimensions Without Frame: H 32.75 in. x W 35.63 in. Artist Biography: A painter and textile designer, John Little is best known for gestural works filled with boldly explosive color that reflect the influences of his teacher Hans Hofmann and for his involvement in the Abstract Expressionist movement in East Hampton, where he moved in the late 1940s. In East Hampton Little congregated with Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and the other artists who were the leading innovators in the New York School. John Little was born in Sanford, Alabama. He left home at the age of fourteen to become an artist, and moved to Buffalo, New York, in 1923. After spending a year working as a stevedore on the docks to save money, he enrolled at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and developed an interest in singing. In 1927 he moved to New York City where he continued his vocal work and studied operatic literature. He also became involved in textile design, opening his own store in 1920, called John Little Studios: Fabric and Wallpaper Design. He ran the store until 1950. In 1933 John Little resumed his painting studies at the Art Students League in New York under the guidance of George Grosz (1893-1959). The following year he made his first visit to East Hampton, Long Island, which he would eventually call home. Later in the decade, he traveled to Paris where he became familiar with European modernism. On his return to America, he taught textile design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He hired Josephine Watkins to work for him; she later became his wife. Little's textile store and teaching job gave him a financial security that was rare during the Depression, and he never found it necessary to find employment with the Works Progress Administration. At the end of the decade, John Little studied with Hans Hofmann (1880-1966) in New York and Provincetown. Little was greatly influenced by Hofmann, particularly by his views on color theory. In 1942 John Little joined the Navy as an aerial photographer. In the late 1940s he purchased a rundown house on Three Mile Harbor...
Category

Early 20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Static 246 Original Seacape mind, Painting, Acrylic on Watercolor Paper
Located in Yardley, PA
Blue is the color of trust and peace. seascape It can suggest loyalty and integrity as well as conservatism and frigidity. Painting is 8.5X10.5" heavyweight stock comes custom-fr...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Large Mid-Century Modern Abstract Cityscape Oil Painting, Red, Black & Gold
Located in Denver, CO
This stunning mid-20th-century oil and spackle painting by Henriette "Yetti" Stolz captures a bold, abstract cityscape with a dramatic bridge and towering buildings. The striking com...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Putty

Abstract Landscape
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original watercolor painting by American artist Wes Olmsted depicting an abstract landscape view.
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Archival Paper, Watercolor

Ortez Modernist Family Portrait – 1940s Abstracted Interior Scene with 5 Figures
Located in Denver, CO
Ortez (Modernist Family Portrait) is an abstract gouache on paper painting by Lewis Lee Tilley (1921-2005), created in 1947. The piece depicts a family of five sitting together on a ...
Category

1940s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Vintage Mid-Century Modern Swedish Abstract Oil Painting - Intersections of Grey
Located in Bristol, GB
INTERSECTIONS OF GREY Size: 65 x 85 cm (including frame) Oil on board A very large mid century modernist abstract composition, painted in oil onto board. Almost monochrome in its p...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Modernist Abstract Cast Paper Sculpture Textile Collage Wall Hanging
Located in Surfside, FL
Hea-Sook Yoo, artist, internationally renowned female artist, has her paintings hanging inresidences, businesses and art galleries on three continents over three decades.Ms. Yoo is c...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Fabric, Mixed Media

Vintage American Modernist Abstract Nature Study Original Realist Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist abstract oil painting by Mark DiVincenzo. Oil on canvas, circa 2005. Signed verso. Unframed.
Category

Early 2000s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Greek Island Painting, oil on canvas c2012
Located in Frome, Somerset
An original Acrylic and Oil on canvas by Andy Gradwell. Greek Island Painting. circa 2012 Signed. 65cm x65cm. Landscape /seascape. Semi abstract ...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Acrylic

Florentine Expressions: A Portrait Series IV
Located in London, GB
"Florentine Expressions: A Portrait Series IV", oil on canvas, mounted on board, Florentine School (circa 1980s-90s). This gallery has acquired a number of paintings through an inter...
Category

Late 20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

Untitled-006 abstract painting by Fred Martin
Located in Hudson, NY
Exhibited: 2003 Oakland Museum of California "Fred Martin Retrospective" A native Californian, Fred Martin was born in San Francisco in 1927, and received both his BA (1949) and MA (1954) from University of California, Berkley. At the San Francisco Art Institute Martin studied with Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko and David Park...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Pastel, Acrylic

UNTITLED FIGURES (LINES AND SHAPES AGAINST TEXTURAL BACKGROUND)
By Shoshana Heimann
Located in Surfside, FL
As fate would have it, sculptor, painter and printmaker Shoshana Heimann (1923-2009) did not live to see her retrospective installed at both the Hecht Museum at the University of Hai...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Wood, Mixed Media, Oil

Two trees and the sun. 2002. Cardboard, oil, 100x81 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Laimdots Murnieks had a significant influence on the development of Latvian painting at the end of the 20th century. His work 'Holiday' conveys the f...
Category

Early 2000s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

"Yellowstone" - oil on canvas
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This artist is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner grant awarded to artists with established abilities, established by the wife of Jackson Pollock. We love the work of this artist bec...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Things of this World, Abstract Oil Painting
By Alan Tompkins
Located in Surfside, FL
Genre: Modern Subject: Abstract Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Country: United States Dimensions: 18" x 24" Dimensions w/Frame: 18.5" x 24.5" Cubist Surrealism, reminescent of the Later Pop Art works of Roy Lichtenstein. Alan Tompkins a prolific artist, he continued to paint into his 100th year and strongly desired one thing: to be remembered for his art. “I’m not a hobbyist, I’m not an educator,” said Tompkins. “I want to be remembered as a painter.” Tompkins produced thousands of paintings, many showing the influence of Cubism and abstract art, during a long and productive career. Tompkins played a pivotal role in the formation of the University of Hartford. He was director of the Hartford Art School in 1957 when it merged with the original Hillyer College and the Hartt College of Music to become the University of Hartford. He served as director until 1969 and then taught art history and visual studies until his retirement in 1974. A graduate of Columbia University...
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Ceremonial Dancers oil and tempera painting by Julio De Diego
Located in Hudson, NY
Artwork measures 48" x 30" and framed 56 ¼" x 38 ¼" x 3" Provenance: John Heller Gallery, NYC, circa 1975 (label verso) The artist's daughter Corbino Galleries, Sarasota, FL (1990)...
Category

1940s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil, Tempera

"The Blackhand" Colorful Abstract Modern Pop Art Portrait Painting of a Man
Located in Houston, TX
Colorful abstract modern portrait painting of an evil man by Texas artist Robert Sandman. As the artist explains, "The Black Hand, or La Mano Nera in It...
Category

1980s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Large Abstract Painting, "Torn and Most Whole"
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Large abstract painting that explores the relationship between warm and cool colors in an exhilarating and decidedly feminine way. Signed on the edge of the canvas and titled Torn an...
Category

20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paint

Untitled
Located in New York, NY
Oil on canvas. In very good condition with bright colors. Provenance: Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, New York, with the label verso; private collection, New York.
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Mosaic Style Abstract French Oil Painting c.1980's Bright Colors
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Mosaic abstract French School, (unsigned) late 20th century work oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 21.5 x 15 inches Provenance: private collection, France Condition: a few minor surfa...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Mid Century Mini Abstract Figurative Landscape Oil Painting- The Path Less Taken
Located in Bristol, GB
THE PATH LESS TAKEN Size: 24.5 x 25.5 cm (including frame) Oil on board A brilliantly executed abstract figurative oil composition painted by the established Swedish artist Ivar Mor...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

After the rain. 1991, oil on cardboard, 90x83 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Laimdots Murnieks had a significant influence on the development of Latvian painting at the end of the 20th century. His work 'Holiday' conveys the fee...
Category

1990s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

Abstract Serigraphy By Vahan P. Amadouni
Located in Pasadena, CA
Vahan P. Amadouni is an artist whose work has found critical acceptance both in Europe, the United States and the Mideast. Born in ancient Armenia in June 1933, he took his early sc...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Lithograph

1990s Large Abstract Oil Painting, Earth Tones Brown, Gold, Green, Horizontal
Located in Denver, CO
This original abstract oil painting, created in 1994 by the acclaimed artist Wilma Fiori (1929-2019), captures a rich, moody composition in a large horizon...
Category

1990s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Moonlight. 1996. Oil on cardboard, 85x74 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Laimdots Murnieks had a significant influence on the development of Latvian painting at the end of the 20th century. His work 'Holiday' conveys the fee...
Category

1990s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

"Promises Kept" Large Blue Tonal Surrealist Painting
By David True
Located in Houston, TX
Large-scale blue abstract painting of a stormy seascape. This painting features mainly deep blue tones and a coral colored castle. Framed in a black floating frame. Signed by the art...
Category

Late 20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Double Vision 57 - Modern Resin Artwork
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Ricky Hunt’s mixed media minimalist wall art is influenced by his tumultuous past that led to a paradigm shift in creativity and life. He covers the wood panel with layers of acrylic...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Resin, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Wood Panel

Time Zone 9 - Modern Resin Minimalist Cool Tone Geometric Abstraction Artwork
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Ricky Hunt’s mixed media minimalist wall art is influenced by his tumultuous past that led to a paradigm shift in creativity and life. He covers the wood panel with layers of acrylic...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Resin, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Wood Panel

Colorful Modernist Still Life with Fruit and Water Jug
Located in Soquel, CA
Colorful Modernist Still Life with Fruit and Water Jug by Ellis Hopkins (American, b. 1952). This bold still life depicts a bowl of fruit resting on a table with a large green jug....
Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Board, Oil

The Magician oil and tempera painting by Julio de Diego
Located in Hudson, NY
Julio De Diego’s Atomic Series paintings made an extraordinary statement regarding the shock and fear that accompanied the dawn of the nuclear age. In the artist’s own words, “Scientists were working secretly to develop formidable powers taken from the mysterious depths of the earth - with the power to make the earth useless! Then, the EXPLOSION! . . . we entered the Atomic Age, and from there the neo-Atomic war begins. Explosions fell everywhere and man kept on fighting, discovering he could fight without flesh.” To execute these works, De Diego developed a technique of using tempera underpainting before applying layer upon layer of pigmented oil glazes. The result is paintings with surfaces which were described as “bonelike” in quality. The forms seem to float freely, creating a three-dimensional visual effect. In the 1954 book The Modern Renaissance in American Art, author Ralph Pearson summarizes the series as “a fantastic interpretation of a weighty theme. Perhaps it is well to let fantasy and irony appear to lighten the devastating impact. By inverse action, they may in fact increase its weight.” Exhibited 1964 Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas This work retains its original frame which measures 54" x 42" x 2" About this artist: Julio De Diego crafted a formidable persona within the artistic developments and political struggles of his time. The artist characterized his own work as “lyrical,” explaining, “through the years, the surrealists, the social-conscious painters and the others tried to adopt me, but I went my own way, good, bad or indifferent.” [1] His independence manifested early in life when de Diego left his parent’s home in Madrid, Spain, in adolescence following his father’s attempts to curtail his artistic aspirations. At the age of fifteen he held his first exhibition, set up within a gambling casino. He managed to acquire an apprenticeship in a studio producing scenery for Madrid’s operas, but moved from behind the curtains to the stage, trying his hand at acting and performing as an extra in the Ballet Russes’ Petrouchka with Nijinsky. He spent several years in the Spanish army, including a six-month stretch in the Rif War of 1920 in Northern Africa. His artistic career pushed ahead as he set off for Paris and became familiar with modernism’s forays into abstraction, surrealism, and cubism. The artist arrived in the U.S. in 1924 and settled in Chicago two years later. He established himself with a commission for the decoration of two chapels in St. Gregory’s Church. He also worked in fashion illustration, designed magazine covers and developed a popular laundry bag for the Hotel Sherman. De Diego began exhibiting through the Art Institute of Chicago in 1929, and participated in the annual Chicago Artists Exhibitions, Annual American Exhibitions, and International Water Color Exhibitions. He held a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in the summer of 1935. Though the artist’s career was advancing, his family life had deteriorated. In 1932 his first marriage dissolved, and the couple’s young daughter Kiriki was sent to live with friend Paul Hoffman. De Diego continued to develop his artistic vocabulary with a growing interest in Mexican art. He traveled throughout the country acquainting himself with the works of muralists such as Carlos Merida, and also began a collection of small native artifacts...
Category

1940s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil, Tempera

TITO - Modern / Minimal Geometric Painting, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Original Modernist / Minimalist Acrylic & Copper Metallic Painting on Linen Canvas / MDF Wood Panel. *This Artwork is being SOLD UNFRAMED! - the additional Virtual Image of the fr...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Modernist Abstract Still Life Painting with Red-Orange Zinnias, American Art
Located in Denver, CO
This captivating oil on board painting by Paul Kauvar Smith (1893–1977) showcases a vibrant American Modernist still life featuring zinnia flowers in hues of red and orange. Set with...
Category

20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

1940s American Modernist Abstract Industrial Watercolor Ink Charcoal Painting
Located in Denver, CO
This original vintage painting by Charles Ragland Bunnell (1897-1968), titled Quitting Time from Bunnell's Black and Blue Series from 1941, exemplifies his unique Abstract Structure ...
Category

1940s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Ink, Watercolor

Florentine Expressions: A Portrait Series III
Located in London, GB
"Florentine Expressions: A Portrait Series III", oil on canvas, mounted on board, Florentine School (circa 1980s-90s). This gallery has acquired a number of paintings through an inte...
Category

Late 20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

"Cavalerie Viennoise" Modern Blue Tone Abstract Expressionist Painting of Horses
Located in Houston, TX
Modern blue toned Abstract Expressionist painting by the French painter Joël Dabin. The work features a group of running horses set against an abstract yellow, orange, and light blue...
Category

1990s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Abstract- Blue w/ One Gold Square" Modern Cubist Inspired Abstract Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Modern Cubist abstract painting by the iconic Houston based artist David Adickes. The work features cluster of blue and gray geometric shapes, accented by a single gold form. Signed...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Zodiac Magic Circle - Oil Paint by Mino Meno - 1980s
Located in Roma, IT
Oil on wooden panel realized by Mino Meno in 1980s. Hand signed and titled on rear. It bears a contemporary wooden frame cm. 59.5x49.
Category

1980s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Prayer 1 - Oil Paint by Mino Meno - 1977
Located in Roma, IT
Oil on plywood realized in 1977. Titled, dated and signed on rear. Very good condition.
Category

1970s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Large 20th Century French Modernist Provencal Landscape Cubist Village Houses
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Provence Village 20th century French school after Andre Lhote (bears signature, ie: not by Andre Lhote) oil on board, framed framed: 12 x 19.5 inches board: 8 x 15.5 inches Pro...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

"PASSION" - Modern Colorfield Painting, Painting, Acrylic on Watercolor Paper
Located in Yardley, PA
Original Acrylic Modernist "Colorfield" Painting on Heavy 300 lb (640gsm) Cold Pressed French "Lanaquarelle" Archival 100% Cotton Watercolor Paper - The Title written in graphite 'PA...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

The Window 317 - Modern Resin Beige Minimalist Artwork
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Ricky Hunt’s mixed media minimalist wall art is influenced by his tumultuous past that led to a paradigm shift in creativity and life. He covers the wood panel with layers of acrylic...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Resin, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Wood Panel

Modernist 1945 Abstract Waterfall Watercolor Landscape Painting by Eve Drewelowe
Located in Denver, CO
This striking 1945 abstract landscape watercolor by pioneering modernist artist Eve (Van Ek) Drewelowe, titled "The Champagne Cascades, Crescendos, Crashes," is a bold interpretation...
Category

1940s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Blue Still Life
Located in Wiscasset, ME
This vibrant work by noted 20th century American artist, Joel Durand, employs a bold palette and sophisticated approach in this dramatic and abstracted sti...
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Original Abstract Paintings for Sale on 1stDibs

Bring audacious experiments with color and textures to your living room, dining room or home office. Abstract paintings, large or small, will stand out in your space, encouraging conversation and introducing a museum-like atmosphere that’s welcoming and conducive to creating memorable gatherings.

Abstract art has origins in 19th-century Europe, but it came into its own as a significant movement during the 20th century. Early practitioners of abstraction included Wassily Kandinsky, although painters were exploring nonfigurative art prior to the influential Russian artist’s efforts, which were inspired by music and religion. Abstract painters endeavored to create works that didn’t focus on the outside world’s conventional subjects, and even when artists depicted realistic subjects, they worked in an abstract mode to do so.

In 1940s-era New York City, a group of painters working in the abstract mode created radical work that looked to European avant-garde artists as well as to the art of ancient cultures, prioritizing improvisation, immediacy and direct personal expression. While they were never formally affiliated with one another, we know them today as Abstract Expressionists.

The male contingent of the Abstract Expressionists, which includes Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Robert Motherwell, is frequently cited in discussing leading figures of this internationally influential postwar art movement. However, the women of Abstract Expressionism, such as Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell and others, were equally involved in the art world of the time. Sexism, family obligations and societal pressures contributed to a long history of their being overlooked, but the female Abstract Expressionists experimented vigorously, developed their own style and produced significant bodies of work.

Draw your guests into abstract oil paintings across different eras and countries of origin. On 1stDibs, you’ll find an expansive range of abstract paintings along with a guide on how to arrange your wonderful new wall art.

If you’re working with a small living space, a colorful, oversize work can create depth in a given room, but there isn’t any need to overwhelm your interior with a sprawling pièce de résistance. Colorful abstractions of any size can pop against a white wall in your living room, but if you’re working with a colored backdrop, you may wish to stick to colors that complement the decor that is already in the space. Alternatively, let your painting make a statement on its own, regardless of its surroundings, or group it, gallery-style, with other works.

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