Abstract Still-life Paintings
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.
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21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Ink, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1990s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Glass, Oil
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Paper, Coffee
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
Artist Comments
An abstract garden exists at the crossroads of reality and imagination, where colorful flowers stretch across aqua and green fields. Paint drips suggest dista...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
1990s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic, Pen
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil, Linen
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media
1990s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil, Board
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Paper, Coffee
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
1990s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
Early 2000s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Paper, Ink, Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
20th Century Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Paper, Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Masonite, Oil
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil Pastel, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Marble, Sandstone
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
Using a limited palette of transparent purples and yellows, artist Valerie Berkely presents a calming abstract floral. "I want ...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
Shades of autumn dance in artist Colette Wirz Nauke's impressionist scene of nature. Red and orange foliage abundantly fill the whimsical landscape. Colette p...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
Artist Sharon Sieben displays a still life of ceramic urns from ancient Greece. She paints with quick brushwork marked by solid outlines and highlights. The t...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
Artist McGarren Flack paints a chocolate frosted cookie on a solid white background. “Who doesn't like sweets?†asks McGarren. In his Sweets series, he dr...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Judy Mackey shares her joy in painting US flags. In this piece, the flag is painted at a stationary position set against an abstracted blue background....
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Still-life Paintings
Oil