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Abstract Figurative Paintings

ABSTRACT STYLE

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.

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Style: Abstract
'The Feast’ - Very Large Original Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media Painting
Located in Carmel, CA
"The Feast" by Steen Rehfeld emerges as a triumphant celebration of form, color, and texture in contemporary abstract art. Spanning an impressive 78"x144", this mixed media masterpie...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Horse and Boy, Modernist Abstracted Figural Watercolor in Pink, Blue, and Yellow
By Douglas Denniston
Located in Denver, CO
Watercolor on paper titled "Horse and Boy" painted by Douglas Denniston (1921-2001) from 1945. Semi abstract picture of a young boy and his horse, painte...
Category

1940s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Cenizas y diamantes XVI, Abstract Painting on canvas
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Cenizas y diamantes XVI, 2020 by Cecilia Méndez Casariego From the series "Cenizas y diamantes" Acrylic paint on sulphite paper Image size: 45 H cm. x 33 W cm. Unframed The artist...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

"Family Portrait II" (Large Contemporary Multimedia Abstract Painting)
Located in New Orleans, LA
"I have been painting seriously for somewhere around 35 years, but have only ever sold regionally - most recently, through my gallery on Magazine Street in New Orleans. Through 1stDi...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Charcoal, Oil Crayon, Oil, Acrylic

RENE LEROY - FRENCH MODERNIST OIL PAINTING - FIGURES HUNCHED OVER BOARD GAME
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: Rene Leroy (French b. 1932) Title: The Board Game Medium: oil painting on canvas Size: painting: 6.5 x 9.5 inches Provenance: all the paintings we have for sale...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

"The media world" abstract on linen canvas acrylic 72x97cm 2006
Located in Roscoff, FR
"The media world" abstract on linen canvas acrylic 72x97cm 2006 The harshness of this competitive world where to be the first is the priority goal.
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Colorful Abstract Portrait Painting on Board- Rainbow Showers by Peter Keil
Located in Hudson, NY
This modern abstract painting by Peter Keil is on a smooth masonite board with a taupe background, black abstract portrait and showered with many colors. Here you certainly see the P...
Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Acrylic, Board

The Other
Located in Montreal, Quebec
The themes visited in this show stem from a desire to extend the vocabulary of my painting while forming a metaphor for the chaos of contemporary life. The title, Escalade, has differing and complimentary functions in English and French. Continuing to paint, over a lengthening career, the medium poses more questions than answers. The title is a reference to my attempt to overcome these difficulties through the expansion of my painting language. The title also refers to the escalation of crises in the world at large. It is the larger picture in which I am a small person trying to make my way. In a concrete sense, the title also refers to a strategy I have taken in a number of these paintings. That is, to re-examine very small paintings...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Happy Crowd by Gaetan de Seguin - Contemporary Abstract painting
Located in DE
Gaetan de Seguin paints figurative works, with an abstract character. The various colors highlight that not one person is the same, and his artworks celebrate this individuality in a...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Mom, Bart's Twisting Facts in an Orwellian Fashion! colorful abstract faces
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Oil, acrylic, gesso on panel.
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Acrylic

Rose Sheet / Red Pillow - Contemporary Modern Abstract Painting
Located in Salzburg, AT
Agata Czeremuszkin-Chrut was born in 1983 in Czestochowa, Poland. She graduated from the Academy of the Fine Arts in Wroclaw (2008) with the Master degree in Painting. In 2007 she st...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Canvas, Oil

Swimmer (Framed Contemporary Multimedia Abstract Painting)
Located in New Orleans, LA
Artist's Statement: "I typically paint abstractly, but this is part of a recent series of paintings that is figurative and symbolic. They harken back to 80s neo-Expressionism - my f...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor, House Paint, Charcoal, Oil Crayon

"Eve" Abstract Figure with Gown French Haute Couture Oil Painting on Paper
Located in New York, NY
Exploring the purity of the feminine form and the drama of French haute couture, artist Cindy Shaoul creates a dialogue between the figurative and the abstract. Her spirited composit...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic

"My Heart on Noir" Black and White Contemporary Oil Painting with Floater Frame
Located in New York, NY
Motivated by bold color and fast brushwork, we are moved by the simplicity and thick textured oil paints in these works. Shaoul’s “My Heart Collection” is a vibrant and energetic dis...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

"Parisian Mornings" Abstract Figure in Haute Couture Gown Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Exploring the purity of the feminine form and the drama of French haute couture, artist Cindy Shaoul creates a dialogue between the figurative and the abstract. Her spirited composit...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil

Inflation Growth, Fillipus Sheehama, Mixed media
Located in Windhoek, NA
Inflation Growth, 2022. Mixed media: charcoal, pencil, acrylic paint on reclaimed paper Sheehama graduated from the University of Namibia with a Bachelor of Art (Fine Art) Honours degree in 2010 and has taught Visual Arts at the John Muafangejo...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic

"Pete's Going Away, " colorful gestural abstraction, multiple figures
Located in Brooklyn, NY
An abstract figurative oil painting on board. Active, expressive movement with powerful paint application. An abstract homage to Caravaggio.
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil Crayon, Oil, Board

Adam and Eve, 1980s Abstract Figurative Painting, Vertical Oil Painting, 30 x 48
Located in Denver, CO
Oil painting on foam core titled "Adam and Eve" by Denver artist Edward Marecak (1919-1993) from 1983. Portrays two semi-abstract figures with shapes in the background, painted in colors of pink, blue, yellow, and brown. Presented in a custom wooden frame, outer dimensions measure 30 ⅞ x 48 ⅞ x 2 ⅝ inches. Image size 30 x 48 inches. Painting is in good vintage condition - please contact us for a detailed condition report. Provenance: Estate of Edward Marecak About the Artist: Born to immigrant parents from the Carpathian region in Slovakia, Marecak grew up with his family in the farming community of Bennett’s Corners, now part of the town of Brunswick, near Cleveland, Ohio. When he turned twelve, his family moved to a multi-ethnic neighborhood of Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and Slovenians in Cleveland. His childhood household cherished the customs and Slavic folk tales from the Old Country that later strongly influenced his work as a professional artist. His junior and senior high projects earned him a full scholarship to the Cleveland Institute of Art (1938-1942) where he studied with Henry George Keller whose work was included in the 1913 New York Armory Show. In 1940 Marecak also taught at the Museum School of the Cleveland Institute. Before being drafted into the military in 1942, he briefly attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art near Detroit, one of the nation’s leading graduate schools of art, architecture, and design. Marecak’s studies at Cranbrook with painter Zoltan Sepeshy...
Category

1980s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Lot, dramatic abstracted military theme, fire, multiple figures
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Oil, acrylic, charcoal on panel.
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Oil, Acrylic

Narciso
Located in Milano, MI
After touring Europe on a motorcycle, he arrived in Berlin in 2012, where he won a residence for artists with a pictorial series on massification and nihilism. In 2014 he was invited for a residence in Colombia, and subsequently he has travelled to Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba. The experience of Central America affects his painting so much that it becomes gestural and dominated by strong and bright colors. Contact with indigenous communities contributed to the formation of his thought and poetics, which suggests accessing an irrational dimension that cannot be explored through science and technology.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

L'hymne du Roi David (King David's Dream)
Located in Boca Raton, FL
L'hymne du Roi David (King David's Dream) Oil on wood by Marc Chagall c late 70's Comes with Numbered and Verified Certificate of Authenticity from Comite C...
Category

1970s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Wood

"Red Shift" (Large Contemporary Abstract Painting)
Located in New Orleans, LA
"I have been painting seriously for somewhere around 35 years, but have only ever sold regionally - most recently, through my gallery on Magazine Street in New Orleans. Through 1stDi...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Oil Crayon, Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor

Time Has Come Today
Located in Denver, CO
This is an original unframed, oil painting on canvas. Rocky Hawkins was born in 1950 in Seattle, Washington and grew up in small towns near the Cascades Mountains. His interest in th...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"My Free at Heart" Contemporary Multicolored and Gold Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Motivated by bold color and fast brushwork, we are moved by the simplicity and thick textured oil paints in these works. This piece displays a beautiful lavender color with white hea...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Sicktina" figurative spray and acrylic on canvas, street art
Located in New York, NY
This painting comes with an Acrylic QR code plaque - when the QR code is scanned you can then point the camera at the physical painting and it will become augmented reality. To crea...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil Pastel, Oil, Spray Paint, Acrylic

"Pink Tax", contemporary pink patterned abstract acrylic & spray paint on canvas
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This pieces is part of a 22 painting series I created for my MFA thesis in 2017. The abstraction in this series is effected through symbolic gestures, distinctive lines, and organi...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Spray Paint, Acrylic

Crash (Yellow on Museum I)
Located in Solana Beach, CA
Lino Lago's lush, provocative paintings are exploration of color and art history as with one clear sweep he brings a classic Baroque painting into the foreground like an untold secre...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Figure - Abstract Painting Canvas Colors Red Green Blue Grey White Pink Black
Located in Sofia, BG
Composition - abstract painting by Maestro Nina Ruseva. About the artwork: TECHNIQUE: Oil painting STYLE: Abstract, Contemporary Edition : Unique, signed Weight: Approximately 2 k...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Genesis" Abstract Painting 47" x 39" inch by Amal Nasr
Located in Culver City, CA
"Genesis" Abstract Painting 47" x 39" inch by Amal Nasr “New Horizon” series There is a constant quest to restore the joy of discovery and the pleasure of the first experience, an...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Canvas

"MIA Vietnam" Red, Blue, and Black Figurative Geometric Abstract Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Red, blue, and black abstract figurative painting by Texas artist Paul Reeves. The work features a central figure with the text "NAM.MIA RA16Q42081" set about an abstract background of red, blue, and black rectangles. Currently unframed, but options are available. Artist Biography: Paul Reeves is the owner of Reeves Antiques...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Untitled
Located in Barcelona, ES
The painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate
Category

1970s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Lithograph

New York City Abstract Skyline, Semi Abstract Night Scene Cityscape Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Oil on board painting of abstracted New York City skyline by Charles Ragland Bunnell from 1951. Nocturne cityscape painted in colors of black, shades of blue, and yellow. Presented in a custom black frame, outer dimensions measure 30 ¼ x 12 ¼ x ¾ inches. Image size is 30 x 12 ¼ inches. Painting is in good vintage condition - please contact us for detailed condition report. Provenance: Estate of Charles Ragland Bunnell Expedited and international shipping is available - please contact us for a quote. About the Artist: Charles Bunnell developed a love for art at a very young age. As a child in Kansas City, Missouri, he spent much of his time drawing. When he was unable to find paper he drew on walls and in the margins of textbooks for which he was often fined. Around 1915, Bunnell moved with his family to Colorado Springs, Colorado. He served in World War I and later used his GI Training to study at the Broadmoor Art Academy (later renamed the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) during 1922 and 1923. In 1922, he married fellow student, Laura Palmer...
Category

1950s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

"My Film Noir Heart" Colorful Abstract Oil Painting with Floater Frame
Located in New York, NY
Motivated by bold color and fast brushwork, we are moved by the simplicity and thick textured oil paints in these works. Shaoul’s “My Heart Collection” is a vibrant and energetic dis...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

A burden of proof, Fillipus Sheehama, Mixed media
Located in Windhoek, NA
A burden of proof, 2022. Mixed media: charcoal, pastel, acrylic paint on reclaimed paper Sheehama graduated from the University of Namibia with a Bachelor of Art (Fine Art) Honours degree in 2010 and has taught Visual Arts at the John Muafangejo...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic

"Body Abstraction no. 8", contemporary black & white abstract body painting
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This is a piece from my "Body Abstraction" Series. It is a series I created during my MFA where I was interested in zooming in on the female body, my own body specifically, to focus ...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait - Abstract Painting Lila Pink Red Green Blue Grey White Yellow Black
Located in Sofia, BG
Portrait - abstract painting by Maestro Nina Ruseva. About the artwork: TECHNIQUE: Oil painting STYLE: Abstract, Contemporary Edition : Unique, signed Weight: Approximately 2 kg. ...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Colorful Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting Modernist Beach Landscape
Located in Surfside, FL
Ralph Rosenborg (American, 1913-1992) "American Landscape, Sky and Shore, 1973" Oil on canvas. Signed 'Rosenborg' (lower right). Titled (verso). 30 x 40 in Ralph Rosenborg (1913–1992) was an American artist whose paintings were described as both expressionist and abstract and who was a colleague of the New York Abstract Expressionists in the 1940s and 1950s. Unlike them, however, he preferred to make small works and tended to explicitly draw upon natural forms and figures for his abstract subjects. Called a "highly personal artist," he developed a unique style that was considered to be both mystical and magic. His career was exceptionally long, covering more than 50 years. Rosenborg was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 9, 1913. In 1929, while he was a high school student, he began to work with the designer, artist, and instructor, Henriette Reiss. When Rosenborg encountered her, Reiss was serving as an instructor for the School Art League in the American Museum of Natural History. She was then engaged in instructing both students and their teachers in the city school system by a method she called Rhythmic Design. She believed inspiration for abstract designs could be found in rhythms—rhythms that could be perceived in ordinary perceptions much as they are when listening to music. In May 1930 Reiss selected a drawing by Rosenborg to be shown in an exhibition of creative design by City high school students. From 1930 to 1933, aged 17 to 20, Rosenborg studied with Reiss in what Vivien Raynor of the New York Times called a "pupil-apprentice" relationship. During this time she instructed him in music appreciation, literature, and art history as well as giving technical training in art. In April 1934 Rosenborg was one of 1,500 artists to participate in the annual Salons of America exhibition, which was held that year in Rockefeller Center RCA Building. Each paid two dollars for the privilege of hanging up to three works and none was given prominence over the others. The New York Times reported that by the time the show closed a month later, some 30,000 people had viewed it. The following year he was given a solo exhibition (his first) at the Lounge Gallery of the Eighth Street Playhouse. The year after that he participated in a group show held by the Municipal Art Committee and in 1937 was given a second solo exhibition, this time in the Artists Gallery. That year he also became a founding member of and participated in a group show held by American Abstract Artists, a loose assembly of artists that aimed to promote abstract art and artists in New York. Its founders included Josef Albers, Ilya Bolotowsky, Werner Drewes, Ibram Lassaw, Mercedes Matter, Louis Schanker, Vaclav Vytlacil and Rudolph Weisenborn. At roughly the same time Rosenborg associated himself with a group of abstractionists that called itself "The Ten" (It included Ben-Zion, Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb and Joe Solman) and in May 1938 joined with its other members in what would be his first appearance in a commercial gallery: the Gallery Georgette Passedoit. In 1938 he his work appeared in a group show at the Lounge Gallery, in 1939 in group shows at the Artists Gallery and at the Bonestell Gallery with David Burliuk, Earl Kerkam, Karl Knaths and Jean Liberte...
Category

1960s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Jute

Paris, Tuileries Garden. 1961. Oil on canvas, 27x41 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Paris, Tuileries Garden. 1961. Oil on canvas, 27x41 cm Andree Cottavoz (1922-2012) André Cottavoz is a painter and lithographer who belonged to the Sanzistes group and Paris School...
Category

1960s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Day Off, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
Artist Gary Leonard connotes beauty in this refreshing piece of a woman in red by the beach. The stylish subject enjoys her time with the cool breeze, inspiring...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Birds by Jankel Adler - Abstract painting
Located in London, GB
Birds by Jankel Adler (1895-1949) Oil and ciment on canvas 61.4 x 46.4 cm (24¹/₈ x 18¹/₄ inches) Signed lower right, Adler Executed in 1948 Provenance Galerie Charles Lienhard, Zürich, 1959 Gimpel Fils Gallery, London Denham Gallery, UK Exhibitions John Denham Gallery, Jankel Adler, June 9th - June 23rd 1996 Jankel Adler was born in Lodz, Poland and lived a life of wandering. In 1912 he moved to Belgrade where he began training as an engraver with his uncle and then went to Germany in 1914 where he lived for a time with his sister in Barmen. There he studied at the college of arts and crafts with Professor Gustav Wiethücher. Between 1918 and 1921 he moved between Lodz and Germany until in 1922, he settled in Düsseldorf where he became a teacher at the Academy of Arts, and became acquainted with Paul Klee, who influenced his work. A painting by Adler received a gold medal at the exhibition “German art Düsseldorf” in 1928. In 1933, with the rise of Hitler’s Nazi regime, he left Germany for Paris. With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he volunteered for the Polish army...
Category

1940s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Judith Brenner, Rich Standing 1, Original Figurative Drawing, Nude Painting
Located in Deddington, GB
Judith Brenner Rich Standing 1 Original Figurative Painting Mixed Media on Paper Size: H 84.1cm x W 59.4cm x D 0.1cm Sold Unframed Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look. Sophie Seated 3 is a contemporary nude painting by Judith Brenner. This is an original drawing from life on paper using acrylic, pan pastel , ink and watercolour pencil. The idea is to capture the essence of the pose using line and wash...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor, Paper, Pastel

Love by Gaetan de Seguin - Contemporary Figurative painting
Located in DE
Gaetan de Seguin paints figurative works, with an abstract character. The various colors highlight that not one person is the same, and his artworks c...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Empty Nest Bird Abstract Expressionist
Located in Soquel, CA
A stunning, vibrant abstract painting titled "Empty Nest" by California abstract expressionist artist Kristin Cohen (American, b. 1963). Colorful and dynamic, a perfect addition for ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Interior, large, colorful figural abstract red, orange, blue acrylic of couple
Located in Beachwood, OH
Richard Andres (American, 1927-2013) Interior, 1976 acrylic on canvas signed lower right, signed and titled verso 50 x 59.5 inches Richard Andres was born in Buffalo, New York in 1927. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1950, he was immediately drafted and served for two years in the army as a mural painter. He received his Master of Arts from Kent State in 1961. A frequent exhibitor at galleries and museums and winner of multiple May Show prizes, Andres taught art in the Cleveland Public Schools for 28 years, as well as teaching the University of Buffalo, the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Western Reserve University. Very little in Richard Andres’ childhood would have predicted his love of classical music, mid-century-modern architecture and certainly not his lifelong passion for art and in particular abstract art. Richard’s father, Raymond, had no more than a third-grade education, and his mother, Clara, was one of thirteen children – only three of whom lived into adulthood and none of whom attended high school. They lived, when Richard was a boy, in a dingy area of Buffalo, NY in a walk-up apartment situated above a tavern. Raymond and Clara supplemented the income from their factory jobs in the bar downstairs with Raymond playing ragtime on the piano and Clara serving drinks. This often left Richard and his two older brothers at home alone to fend for themselves. The two older boys, Raymond and Russell, were - unlike Richard- rather rough and tumble and entertained themselves with stickball, boxing and the like. Richard, on the other hand, from a very young age liked to draw, or better yet even, to paint with the small set of watercolors he received for Christmas one year. Paper, however, at the height of the depression, was hard to come by. Luckily, Clara used paper doilies as decoration for the apartment and Richard would contentedly paint and then cut up doilies, gluing the pieces together to create collages. At eight-years-old, he discovered the Albright-Knox Museum (then known as the Albright Art Gallery) and spent several hours a week there studying the paintings. He was particularly fond of Charles Burchfield‘s landscapes, enamored with their ‘messiness’ and thinking that they somehow captured more ‘feeling’ than works he was previously familiar with. For his tenth Christmas, he asked for and received a ‘how-to’ paint book by Elliot O’Hare. Through this self-teaching, he assembled the portfolio needed for acceptance to Buffalo Technical High School where he studied Advertising Arts. In his Junior year, he was encouraged to enter a watercolor painting, “Two Barns,” in the national 1944-45 Ingersoll Art Award Contest and was one of twelve grand prize winners – each one winning one hundred dollars. More importantly the painting was exhibited at the Carnegie Institute Galleries, which resulted in his winning a national scholarship to the Cleveland School of Art (The Cleveland Art Institute). He flourished at the art school under the tutelage of faculty members such as Carl Gaertner, as well as that of visiting artists such as William Sommer and Henry George Keller. He would say in later years that Gaertner, in particular, influenced his attitude toward life as well as art. “Gaertner,” Andres said, “believed that there was no need to be a ‘tortured artist’, that an artist should rather enjoy beauty, family, and life in general.” Free to spend his days as he chose, he wandered the Cleveland Art Museum for most of the hours he was not attending classes or painting; the remaining time was spent drinking coffee at a local hangout with art school friends – which is where he met fellow Henry Keller scholarship winner, Avis Johnson. Richard was immediately smitten with Avis, but being rather shy, it took him the entire summer of 1948 to build up his courage to ask her out. Over that summer he ‘thought about Avis’ and worked in a diner to save money. He also used the hundred-dollar prize money won in High School to visit the first Max Beckmann retrospective in the United States at the City Art Museum in St. Louis. Over a half century later he spoke of that exhibit with a reverence usually reserved for spiritual matters, “I walked in and it was like nothing I had ever seen before... the color...It just glowed.” Returning to campus in the Fall, the first thing he did was go to the coffee shop in hopes of finding Avis. He did, and she, upon seeing him, realized that she was also smitten with him. They quickly became known as ‘the couple’ on campus, and a year later, with Richard being drafted for the Korean war, they were quickly married by a Justice of the Peace, celebrating after with family at Avis’s Cleveland home. As a gift, faculty member John Paul Miller...
Category

1970s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

The Warrior and the Star Precedes the Sun (Hopi Ceremony, Oraibe, Arizona)
By Charles Stewart, 1922-2011
Located in Denver, CO
20th Century Southwestern Native American oil painting Hopi Ceremony in Oraibe, Arizona by New Mexico artist, Charles C. Stewart (1922-201...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Queen of the Swans
Located in La Canada Flintridge, CA
Oil on canvas, signed lower right, and artist certificate of authenticity is available. Koko's latest collection of paintings are based on the Story of 'Swan Lake,' the ballet comp osed by Tchaikovsky. The series of paintings capture the graceful movement of ballet and classical music. The painting titled "Lakeside - Odette and the Prince" is the classical ballet dance duet between the swan princess...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Promise of Spring Eagle San Francisco Abstract Expressionist Oil on Canvas
Located in Soquel, CA
A dynamic figurative abstract painting of eagle titled "Promise of Spring" by California expressionist artist Kristin Cohen (American, b. 1963). Colorful and dynamic, a perfect addit...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Tchaikovsky Series No. 14"
Located in Houston, TX
Sea foam green and cream abstract by Susan Sosnowy in 1993 titled "Tchaikovsky Series, No. 14". Signed, titled, and dated on reverse. The canvas is not framed. Artist Biography: The...
Category

1990s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Motorsport Car Racing with Checkered Flag at Finish Line of a Race Track
Located in Miami, FL
This highly innovated Bob Peak Race Track painting is a perfect synthesis of art and commerce. Designed with a radical composition where two-thirds of the picture plane is an alm...
Category

1960s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Mixed Media, Illustration Board, Pencil

"Monster Five" American Abstract Expressionist
Located in Soquel, CA
Dynamic, colorful painting of a man floating in a pool by Marc Foster Grant (American, b. 1947). Signed, titled and dated, "Monster Five," and "Grant...
Category

Early 2000s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Archival Paper

"My Starry Night" Blue and White Contemporary Oil Painting Framed
Located in New York, NY
Motivated by bold color and fast brushwork, we are moved by the simplicity and thick textured oil paints in these works. Shaoul’s “My Stars Collection” is a vibrant and energetic dis...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting Deer Animal Pink Red Green
Located in Buffalo, NY
This work, "We Could Sit Outside" by contemporary female painter Dorothy Fitzgerald is part of the artist's Smile Art series, created during the quarantine a...
Category

2010s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Sulking - Oil on Canvas by Sergio Capitani - 1977
Located in Roma, IT
Sulking is an original modern artwork realized by the artist Sergio Capitani in 1977 Mixed colored oil on board. Hand signed on the lower left margin. Authenticity label on the ba...
Category

1970s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Getting Oriented in Florence, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
Walking around Florence, Italy, artist Onelio Marrero came across a charismatic elderly couple asking for directions. Onelio fondly remembers the memory and mak...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Hello Sunshine, Original Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
Artist Nava Lundy displays the profile of a confident young woman imposed on the sun. She depicts her strength and exuberance echoing from her background. A bea...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Hermes III
Located in Spetses, GR
Combinations of dark oil colours present an abstract figurative figure of the ancient Greek god Hermes, who represents trade, wealth, luck, fertility,...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Bible motive. Oil on canvas, 80x40 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Bible motive. Oil on canvas, 80x40 cm
Category

1980s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Birth of the Blues: abstract collage painting w/ found objects, Jazz music image
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
"Birth of the Blues" is a large acrylic painting with a photograph portraits and a number of found objects integrated into the painting, including metal doorplate, and wood panel ins...
Category

Early 2000s Abstract Figurative Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Acrylic

Abstract figurative paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Abstract figurative 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 figurative 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, purple, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Cindy Shaoul, Simon Richard Halimi, Frank Arnold, and Judith Berry. 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 Abstract figurative paintings, so small editions measuring 1 inches across are also available. Prices for figurative 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 $121 and tops out at $570,000, while the average work sells for $2,500.

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