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Modern Abstract Paintings

MODERN STYLE

The first decades of the 20th century were a period of artistic upheaval, with modern art movements including Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Dadaism questioning centuries of traditional views of what art should be. Using abstraction, experimental forms and interdisciplinary techniques, painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and performance artists all pushed the boundaries of creative expression.

Major exhibitions, like the 1913 Armory Show in New York City — also known as the “International Exhibition of Modern Art,” in which works like the radically angular Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp caused a sensation — challenged the perspective of viewers and critics and heralded the arrival of modern art in the United States. But the movement’s revolutionary spirit took shape in the 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution, which ushered in new technology and cultural conditions across the world, transformed art from something mostly commissioned by the wealthy or the church to work that responded to personal experiences. The Impressionist style emerged in 1860s France with artists like Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas quickly painting works that captured moments of light and urban life. Around the same time in England, the Pre-Raphaelites, like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, borrowed from late medieval and early Renaissance art to imbue their art with symbolism and modern ideas of beauty.

Emerging from this disruption of the artistic status quo, modern art went further in rejecting conventions and embracing innovation. The bold legacy of leading modern artists Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian and many others continues to inform visual culture today.

Find a collection of modern paintings, sculptures, prints and other fine art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Modern
At the Beginning, Painting, Acrylic on Paper
Located in Yardley, PA
"At the Beginning" is a vibrant, expressive artwork on paper. The painting is inspired by the cosmos, nature and people. The main colors are blue in different shades, red, yellow...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

European School Man and Woman
Located in Astoria, NY
European School, Man and Woman, Oil on Canvas, depicting a couple seated on a garden bench on abstract ground, signed "Kovkas Z (?)" lower right, orange painted wood frame. Image: 41...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Selfie from saint Sebastian" ( in memory of Rudolf Nureyev)
Located in Edinburgh, GB
This work was inspired by the dance of Rudolf Nureyev. I compared him to Saint Sebastian.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

Celestial Landscape
Located in Astoria, NY
Domenick Capobiano (American, b. 1928), Celestial Composition, Mixed Media Collage on Board, 1963, pastel, acrylic, newspaper, signed and dated lower right, inscribed to verso "To El...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Board, Newsprint

Tide Pools 40 - Contemporary Shiny Resin Minimalist Abstract Artwork on Wood
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

Queen Emma - Alan Davie, painting, modern, british, big, large, colorful, colors
Located in London, GB
Alan Davie (1920-2014) Queen Emma June 1968 oil on canvas (triptych) 213.5 x 404 cm signed, dated and titled (on the verso) Price: £300,000 GBP (inc. 20% U...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Shelter Island Evening" blue and green seascape of a harbor - oil painting
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
"Shelter Island Evening" is a blue and green oil painting of a Northeastern American harbor. Kelly Carmody’s work has been widely exhibited and collected. One of her major figurati...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Made In The Shade 5 - Modern Resin Minimalist Multicolor Geometric Abstract Art
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

Excavation
Located in New York, NY
Charles Houghton Howard was born in Montclair, New Jersey, the third of five children in a cultured and educated family with roots going back to the Massachusetts Bay colony. His father, John Galen Howard, was an architect who had trained at M.I.T. and the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, and apprenticed in Boston with H. H. Richardson. In New York, the elder Howard worked for McKim, Mead and White before establishing a successful private practice. Mary Robertson Bradbury, Charles’s mother, had studied art before her marriage. John Galen Howard moved his household to California in 1902 to assume the position of supervising architect of the new University of California campus at Berkeley and to serve as Professor of Architecture and the first Dean of the School of Architecture (established in 1903). The four Howard boys grew up to be artists and all married artists, leaving a combined family legacy of art making in the San Francisco Bay area that endures to this day, most notably in design, murals and reliefs at the Coit Tower and in buildings on the Berkeley campus. Charles Howard graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1921 as a journalism major, and pursued graduate studies in English at Harvard and Columbia Universities before embarking on a two-year trip to Europe. Howard went to Europe as a would-be writer. But a near-religious experience, seeing a picture by Giorgione in a remote town outside of Venice, proved a life-altering epiphany. In his own words, “I cut the tour at once and hurried immediately back to Paris, to begin painting. I have been painting whenever I could ever since” (Charles Howard, “What Concerns Me,” Magazine of Art 39, no. 2 [February 1946], p. 63). Giorgione’s achievement, in utilizing a structured and rational visual language of art to convey high emotion on canvas, instantly convinced Howard that painting, and not literature, offered the best vehicle to express what he wanted to say. Howard returned to the United States in 1925, confirmed in his intent to become an artist. Howard settled in New York and supported himself as a painter in the decorating workshop of Louis Bouché and Rudolph Guertler, where he specialized in mural painting. Devoting spare time to his own work, he lived in Greenwich Village and immersed himself in the downtown avant-garde cultural milieu. The late 1920s and early 1930s were the years of Howard’s art apprenticeship. He never pursued formal art instruction, but his keen eye, depth of feeling, and intense commitment to the process of art making, allowed him to assimilate elements of painting intuitively from the wide variety of art that interested him. He found inspiration in the modernist movements of the day, both for their adherence to abstract formal qualities and for the cosmopolitan, international nature of the movements themselves. Influenced deeply by Surrealism, Howard was part of a group of American and European Surrealists clustered around Julien Levy. Levy opened his eponymously-named gallery in 1931, and rose to fame in January 1932, when he organized and hosted Surrealisme, the first ever exhibition of Surrealism in America, which included one work by Howard. Levy remained the preeminent force in advocating for Surrealism in America until he closed his gallery in 1949. Howard’s association with Levy in the early 1930s confirms the artist’s place among the avant-garde community in New York at that time. In 1933, Howard left New York for London. It is likely that among the factors that led to the move were Howard’s desire to be a part of an international art community, as well as his marriage to English artist, Madge Knight...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, 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

Still Life with Lemons Fruit Boxes and Green Leaves French Modernist Gouache
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Still Life with Lemons Fruit Boxes and Green Leaves French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.25 x 23 inches (height ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Abstract Still Life with Fruit and Artist’s Tools French Modern Gouache Painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Abstract Still Life with Fruit and Artist’s Tools French Modern Gouache Painting Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19 x 22.5 inches (heig...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

AMITY - 3D MODERN ABSTRACT PAINTING / CONSTRUCTION, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
From the ongoing SERIES: Dimensional Abstracts Original Acrylic Painting / Three Dimensional Construction, with applied Pumice over 2 Pintura Wood Panel Reliefs = 5.25 X 3.5 inche...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Modern Acrylic Painting on Panel Titled: "Last Night"
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Born in Tallahasee Fl, William started his artistic career as a color consultant for his family's Design and Painting company that took on constant projects of custom painted interiors and decorating. This work of 20 yrs lead him to his fascination with textiles and paint, along with custom furniture. After creating and selling dozens of unique pieces of furniture, here began his transition from wall, to wood on furniture, to canvas. Painting on canvas was the culmination of his creative outlet. William feels that his lack of formal training in Fine Art has afforded him a freedom to paint what he envisions and feels, rather than conform to specific style or genre that he feels is limiting Inspired by hard edge abstraction and color field art such as Kenneth Noland, Joseph Albers, Gene Davis, Frank Stella, Anne Truitt, Imi knobel...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Howard Schleeter 1949 Original Gouache & Wax Painting – Abstract Southwest Art
By Howard Schleeter
Located in Denver, CO
This striking original 1949 gouache and wax painting, titled "Fetishes", is a powerful work by acclaimed New Mexico modernist Howard Schleeter (1903–1976). Rich with symbolic abstrac...
Category

1940s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Wax, Gouache

Vintage American Modernist Giltwood Framed Forest Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist forest landscape oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Signed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely fr...
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Henriette “Yetti” Stolz Mid-Century Abstract Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
This mid-20th-century abstract landscape by American modernist Henriette “Yetti” Stolz beautifully blends stylized natural forms with expressive color fields. Painted in rich, earthy tones of gold, brown, orange, and blue, the composition presents a rhythmic forest scene where trees are distilled into bold vertical shapes and layered hues. Stolz’s modernist approach emphasizes structure and emotion over realism, creating a landscape that feels both grounded and dreamlike. Executed in oil on canvas and signed on the back, the painting reflects Stolz’s deep engagement with modernist ideas circulating through Colorado in the 1950s and 1960s. Influenced by artists such as Mary Chenoweth...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Ink, Oil

Massive Abstract Acrylic on Canvas, Pascal Magis (1955-2011)
Located in Palm Desert, CA
This is an absolutely beautiful acrylic on canvas by French artist, Pascal Magnis. A master of color, Magnis creates a canvas in which the colors and shapes appear to be jumping off ...
Category

1990s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

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

Colourful French Modern Oil Still Life with Fabrics Bottles and Picture Frame
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Colourful French Modern Oil Still Life with Fabrics Bottles and Picture Frame Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Oil on artist paper, unframed Size: 22.25 x 19 inches (height x ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Engaged Large Oil Painting With Figures
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
Engaged large figurative abstract Signed, titled and dated, new frame. Arbe Berberyan Russian/Armenian Artist born 1958. The son of a disting...
Category

1990s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Oil

IMMERSION - 3D ABSTRACT PAINTING / CONSTRUCTION, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This piece is part of the Artist's Series "3D RELIEF CONSTRUCTIONS / WALL SCULPTURES" These Three Dimensional artworks are comprised of Archival Paints & Plastics, Natural Woods, ...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Speedy, Painting, Acrylic on Paper
Located in Yardley, PA
"Speedy" is a colorful, happy painting on paper. It is a modern abstract artwork. The work of art is painted with a light, intuitive and very skillful hand. This creates a special...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Large Abstract Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Midcentury abstract oil on canvas painted with skill and confidence with overlapping, disciplined geometric forms with free form lines executed with a complex palette of dark and bri...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

APEX - 3D Modern Painting / Construction, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This piece is part of the Artist's Series "3D RELIEF CONSTRUCTIONS / WALL SCULPTURES" These Three Dimensional artworks are comprised of Archival Paints & Plastics, Natural Woods, ...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Large Mid-Century Yellow Mandala, Ovoid Figural Abstract Painting
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904–2000) Yellow Mandala, c. 1970s Acrylic on canvas 39 x 36 inches 41 x 38.25 inches, framed Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of natio...
Category

1970s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Vintage Mid-Century Swedish Abstract Framed Oil Painting - Waves
Located in Bristol, GB
WAVES Size: 48.5 x 67.5 cm (including frame) Oil on canvas A rhythmic and richly textured mid-century abstract composition, executed in oil onto canvas. Embracing the principles of...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

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

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Village Landscape Scene
Located in Astoria, NY
Jacob Eisenscher (Israeli, 1896-1980), Village Landscape Scene, Oil on Canvas, signed in Hebrew and English lower right, carved wood frame. Image: 25" H x 31.5" W; frame: 32.25" H x ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Flight to Egypt
By Anna Walinska
Located in New York, NY
Oil on paper. Signed and dated 'Walinska 57' (lower left). image size 20 x 13 1/2 in. framed size 28 1/3 x 22 1/2 inches Provenance Martha Jackson Gallery Anderson Gallery, Buffalo...
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil

Deity of Human Origin #6
Located in San Francisco, CA
Sergio Nates Deity of Human Origin #6, 2022 Acrylic on canvas 33 x 20 inches This one-of-a-kind acrylic painting on canvas is stretched across wooden stretcher bars. Sergio Nates (...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

"Just a Little Further" Abstract Painting 79" x 59" inch by Patricio Gonzalez
Located in Culver City, CA
"Collaboration 02" Abstract Painting 39" x 59" inch by Patricio Gonzalez From "Looking for Happiness" series LOOKING FOR HAPPINESS Like "el dorado...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Silver

French, Mid-Century View of a Port dated "59"
Located in SANTA FE, NM
View of a Port "59" French Modernist School Oil on canvas Illegibly signed. l.r., dated "59" 28 3/4 x 23 3/4 (30 x 25 frame) inches A positively brilliant, Modernist view of a French port...
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Modernist Painting, "Nordic Woods "
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind acrylic and mixed media painting on wood panel by San Diego artist, Peter Geise. It is unframed. Its dimensions are 12"x12"x.75"" A...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Wood Panel

Under The Sea Series, Nº 11. Fantasy abstract underwater landscape.
Located in Segovia, ES
Under The Sea Series, Nº 11. Fantasy abstract underwater landscape. Author: Úbeda. Oil on paper, 59 x 40 x 0,1 cm. The sheets that make up t...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil

Vintage American Modernist Nicely Framed Blossom Landscape Signed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Measuring: 27 by 30 inches overall, and 20 by 24 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. ...
Category

1940s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Alfa Romeo Traffic Stop - Playboy Cartoon - Mid Century
Located in Miami, FL
The enduring appeal of Ben Denison's work is not what would be considered corny men's magazine humor of the early 1960s, but rather his masterful painting skills. In the present wor...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Board, Pencil

French Modernist Still Life with Masks Figures and Draped Fabrics
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: French Modernist Still Life with Masks Figures and Draped Fabrics Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 15.25 x 19 inches (height x width) Pr...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Abstract Still Life with Yellow Vase Red Curtain and Blue Flowers French Gouache
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Abstract Still Life with Yellow Vase Red Curtain and Blue Flowers French Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 22.5 x 19 inches (heig...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

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

French Modernist Abstract Still Life with Bottles Fruit and Yellow Shapes
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: French Modernist Abstract Still Life with Bottles Fruit and Yellow Shapes Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 15.5 x 22.25 inches (height x...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

IKON, NO. 386
Located in New York, NY
Jean Xceron is a Greek-born American artist who participated actively in ushering the transition from modernism to Abstract Expressionism in American art. His canvases present a rang...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Modernist Still Life with Books Bottles and Blue Interior French Gouache
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Modernist Still Life with Books Bottles and Blue Interior French Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19 x 22.5 inches (height x wid...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

WILLIAM C GRAUER Cloaked Woman, child & Birdcages acrylic 1960s Cleveland School
Located in Rancho Santa Fe, CA
William C. Grauer’s acrylic on panel from the 1960s, about 38.5 by 28.5 inches, is one of those paintings that feels familiar and unsettling at the same time. It shows a building faç...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Panel

Yellow Abstract with Triangles by Frank Sinatra
Located in New Orleans, LA
Frank Sinatra 1915-1998 American Yellow Abstract with Triangles Signed "Sinatra 89" (lower right) Acrylic on canvas One of the great American icons of the 20th century, Frank Sin...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

"Everyman"
Located in Astoria, NY
Thea Thalie (American, XX), "Everyman", Oil on Canvas, depicting three veiled women surrounding a semi-nude man, all held by an angelic figure, signed lower left, signed and titled t...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Under the sea Series Nº 7. Úbeda. Oil fantasy underwater landscape.
Located in Segovia, ES
Under the sea Series Nº 7. Úbeda. Fantasy underwater landscape. Oil on paper, (H) 41 x (W) 31 x (D) 0.1 cm. Author: Úbeda. The sheets that make up this project evoke a dreamlike world of seabeds. The painter submerges landscapes, forests, materials and terrestrial objects under the cold and silent ocean currents. A feeling of weightlessness dominates the viewer, while the moon floats between anemones, sea urchins and posidonia forests. The blue-green darkness is broken up with nuclei and horizons of light, contrasting with the ambiguous and mysterious atmosphere of the compositions. THECHNIQUE The work has been carried out with an innovative technique, where the fluidized oil is transformed into an undulating sea, to create impossible shapes on paper, which are later outlined by the airbrush, the palette knife and the brush. A totally personal bet of the author, who has done an exercise in free painting, with an explosion of contrasts between the real world and abstraction. ABOUT THE ARTIST Ángel Luis...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil

Under The Sea Series Nº 12. Úbeda. Oil fantasy underwater landscape. Blue green
Located in Segovia, ES
Under The Sea Series Nº 12. Oil on paper. Fantasy underwater abstract landscape. Blue and green color. Measurements: (H) 50 cm. / 19.69 in. (W) ...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil

1950's French Modernist/ Cubist Painting Portrait
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Cubist Portrait by Bernard Labbe (French mid 20th century) original watercolour/ gouache painting on artist paper, unframed size: 17 x 7 inches condition: very good and ready to be e...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Gouache

Double Vision 72 - Modern Shiny Resin Minimalist Vibrant Red Two Tone 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

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 Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil, Tempera

"Follow me / Like me" Oil painting 79" x 59" inch by Patricio Gonzalez
Located in Culver City, CA
"Follow me / Like me" Oil painting 79" x 59" inch by Patricio Gonzalez oil and silver leaves on canvas From "Looking for Happiness" series LOOKING FOR HAPPINESS Like "el dorado", a cultural construction, a myth, the Looking for happiness series talks about the illusion of happiness. Using coordinates between different geographical points and world views, seeking to generate a dialogue between stories. In this way, places speak to tell us about degraded utopias, religious crusades, martyrs and oppressors, wars, victories, and defeats. All searches for what cannot be found. The infinite existing possibilities, in this continuous present and its accumulation, to be history. The utopian idea of achieving completeness or completeness. The transformation of the fabric into jewelry, the transmutation that moves from the sacred to the economic. The "object of desire" is the engine of life and its different permutations. Curriculum vitae Born on February 14, 1974, Santiago, Chile. Study at the School of Fine Arts of t he University of Chile and the University Complutense Hotels guest, Spain. He also attended workshops in painting, drawing and engraving the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. Work in the study of Guillermo Muñoz Vera, Madrid. SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2018 Kadoshiro Art Gallery “Looking for Happiness” Eduardo Lira Art Gallery “IT ́s not here” 2017 Off the wall / serie Golden Bitches/Beaches>(march 9) Galeria Artium-Miami,Usa 2016 ”Razones para la venganza” Galeria Artium-Miami,Usa. 2015 "Out Doors", Gallery Latam Santiago-Chile. 2013 "Coming down like flies" Latam Gallery Santiago, Chile. 2012 "Coto de Caza" Artium Gallery, Santiago, Chile. 2010 "Reasons for permanecia" Praxis Gallery, Santiago, Chile. 2009 "Fissure postcard" fifhy one Dot Gallery, Miami USA. 2008 "Connotations Sinister Galeria Trece, Santiago-Chile. 2007 "From the periphery to the center" Gallery 000 ", Santiago-Chile. 2005 "Lost Time" Gallery Forest, Consepcion- Chile. 2006 "Permanent Revolution" Artium Gallery, Santiago-Chile. 2005 Providencia Santiago Chile-Cultural Center, “Carrera” 2004 "personal mythologies", Praxis Gallery, Santiago-Chile GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2019 West palm Beach Art...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Silver

Mexican Modernist Oil Painting - Double Sided Abstract Figures and Buildings
Located in Soquel, CA
Mexican Modernist Oil Painting - Double Sided Abstract Figures and Buildings Dynamic abstract pieces by Ernesto Butterlin, aka Linares, (Mexican, German b. 1917 d. 1964.) The front ...
Category

1940s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Abstract Still Life with Green Bottle Draped Fabrics Fruit Forms Modernist
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Abstract Still Life with Green Bottle Draped Fabrics Fruit Forms Modernist Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 14.75 x 19.25 inches (height...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Still Life with Artist Mannequin Blue Figures Bowl and Floral Elements Modernist
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Still Life with Artist Mannequin Blue Figures Bowl and Floral Elements Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24.25 x 19.75 ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Still Life with Green Bottles Leeks and Blue Interior Modernist Gouache
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Still Life with Green Bottles Leeks and Blue Interior Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 19.75 inches (height x wid...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Abstract Vegetable Still Life with Squash Melon and Greens Gouache
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Abstract Vegetable Still Life with Squash Melon and Greens Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24.25 inches (height x width) Provenance: Artists estate, France Condition: Good overall with light edge wear and small handling marks consistent with age. There are small tears where staples have been removed from the corners of the piece. Description: This vivid modernist still life by Guy Nicod presents an energetic arrangement of vegetables and sliced produce, rendered in his distinctive abstract gouache style. Across the composition, curved orange and yellow forms suggest squash and melon halves, their seeds and interiors picked out in warm tones that glow against passages of cool grey and blue. Rich greens appear as broccoli heads, leafy herbs, and courgette-like shapes, adding texture and a sense of freshness to the scene. Rather than depicting the kitchen table in a strictly realistic way, Nicod breaks the still life into angular planes and overlapping colour fields. White and pale grey areas imply folded cloth or a table covering, while blocks of magenta, red, and deep purple hint at chopping boards, tabletops, or background textiles. The produce appears both recognisable and abstract, inviting the viewer to move between reading the vegetables as real objects and appreciating them as interlocking shapes of colour. Typical of mid-century French modernism, the painting balances spontaneity with careful structure. Nicod’s gouache application creates a velvety opacity, allowing him to layer bright citrus yellows over earthy underpainting, and to carve out highlights that give the vegetables volume. Ideal for collectors interested in food and kitchen still lifes, vegetable paintings...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Artichokes Blue Drapery and Still Life Vegetables Gouache Painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Artichokes Blue Drapery and Still Life Vegetables Gouache Painting Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 25.75 x 19.5 inches (height x width)...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Vibrant Still Life with Bananas Pumpkin and Leeks French Modernist Gouache
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Vibrant Still Life with Bananas Pumpkin and Leeks French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.25 x 22.75 inches (height...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Abstract Vegetable Still Life with Squash Broccoli and Courgettes Gouache
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Abstract Vegetable Still Life with Squash Broccoli and Courgettes Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache and oil paint on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24 inches (height x width) Provenance: Artists estate, France Condition: Good overall with light edge wear and small handling marks consistent with age. There are small tears where staples have been removed from the corners of the piece. Description: This vibrant and engaging gouache by Guy Nicod depicts an abstracted kitchen still life filled with colourful vegetables and organic forms. Dominating the composition are several large slices of squash or gourds, including a distinctive halved yellow squash at the top centre, its seeds and curved interior rendered in bold green and orange. Additional orange forms throughout the scene resemble whole or cut butternut squash, their warm tones balancing the cooler blues and greys of the background. Clusters of textured green shapes suggest broccoli, leafy greens, or bunches of herbs, adding lively movement and organic rhythm to the arrangement. Long vertical yellow and green forms resemble courgettes or marrows, while darker oval shapes read as avocados or aubergines, their rich brown and deep green tones grounding the composition. The vegetables sit across a series of angled tabletops and draped surfaces painted in red, ochre, and pale grey. These geometric fields enhance the sense of depth and create a dynamic contrast with the rounded, natural shapes of the produce. Nicod’s use of gouache produces velvety opacity and layered textures, allowing him to push the boundaries between representation and abstraction. This work is ideal for collectors interested in modernist food still lifes, kitchen interiors, vegetable paintings...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Oil

Modern abstract paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Modern abstract paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add abstract paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, red, pink and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Stanley Bate, Christel Haag, Clarence Holbrook Carter, and Carmen Gutierrez. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Modern abstract paintings, so small editions measuring 18 inches across are also available. Prices for abstract paintings made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $380 and tops out at $175,000, while the average work sells for $2,970.

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