Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.
Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.
The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.
Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.
Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.
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[Bruce-Sargeant (1898-1938)] Two Wrestlers on Opposing Teams
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Signed in red, u.r. Oil on canvas 20 x 18 inches (91.4 x 61 cm) Price includes $150 additional cost of framing This work is offered by CLAMP in New York City
Oil
Bouquet of Daisies
Located in Zofingen, AG
Size: 100×70 cm (overall size with stretching 108×78 cm) Year: 2026 Materials: acrylic on canvas Shipping: Stretched, in reinforced cardboard packaging. A loosely gathered bouquet o...
Canvas, Acrylic
Breath Between Worlds
By Tim Owen
Located in Santa Fe, NM
acrylic, mixed media My paintings explore the themes of light, atmosphere, and the emotional impact of nature. The bold, expressive brushstrokes and saturated hues in my work aim to...
Canvas, Acrylic
Green Silence
By Jacob Burda
Located in Zofingen, AG
Green Silence Series: Birds Green Silence captures a solitary white heron standing quietly within a lush, dreamlike landscape of deep greens and reflected light. Emerging softly fro...
Canvas, Acrylic
$306Sale Price|23% Off
Original Drawing-Sunset Song-Drawing Time Series-British landscape-plein air-ink
By Shizico Yi
Located in London, GB
This original Ink/Charcoal/gouache drawing was created by Shizico at the transitional sunset light in early spring. Like a modern-day Monet, Shizico has built her own garden over the...
Charcoal, Archival Paper, Gouache, Ink
Blue Silence
By Jacob Burda
Located in Zofingen, AG
Blue Silence Series: Birds Blue Silence captures a solitary pelican drifting quietly through a deep blue landscape suspended between water and shadow. Emerging from broad, expressiv...
Canvas, Acrylic
$2,924
To Leave or Stay: Contemporary Figurative Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Zofingen, AG
This sophisticated contemporary figurative painting examines the psychological atmosphere of civilian life during the war in Ukraine through a carefully orchestrated symbolic interio...
Lacquer, Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
Dandylion Pocket Painting 241, original painting, still-life
Located in Deddington, GB
Pocket Dandylion 241 (canvas size 5x5cm) is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with a n...
Canvas, Oil
Bra Off, World Off
Located in Zofingen, AG
Bra Off, World Off is a celebration of one of life’s smallest and most satisfying rituals. That moment when the day is finally over, expectations loosen their grip, and there is nowh...
Canvas, Acrylic
Hedgehog Pocket Painting 240, original painting, still-life
Located in Deddington, GB
Pocket Hedgehog 240 (canvas size 5x5cm) is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with a no...
Canvas, Oil
Yellow Smudge - Vibrant Yellow Tone Abstract Figurative Sculptural Wall Artwork
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Nebraka-based Jamie Burmeister is a sculptural artist known for his original artworks incorporating original small bronze figures, standing at just up to 4 inches tall. His unique fi...
Metal
"Red bulI"
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this work I will continue to weave archetypal images of ancient times. The work enters into a dialogue with the symbolism of long-standing visual memory, which appears in various...
Canvas, Acrylic
Pearl Harmony
Located in Zofingen, AG
Series: Sea Within — Shells & Pearls. A scallop shell opens like a delicate fan, revealing two luminous pearls nestled within layers of soft lavender, blush, and pearlescent light. E...
Canvas, Acrylic
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Africa Motifs 2 -21st Century Contemporary, Abstract Expressionism, Design
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...
Canvas, Acrylic
After the Game (Figurative Painting, Two Men in Athletic Uniforms by Mark Beard)
By Mark Beard
Located in Hudson, NY
Academic style figurative portrait painting of a handsome young men "After the Game", By Mark Beard as Bruce Sargeant (pseudonym in homage to the fashion photographer, Bruce Weber, a...
Canvas, Oil
$2,800
Blue Dots IV - Pink Tone Contemporary Abstract Figurative Sculptural Artwork
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Nebraka-based Jamie Burmeister is a sculptural artist known for his original artworks incorporating original small bronze figures, standing at just up to 4 inches tall. His unique fi...
Metal
Hibiscus Pink Pocket Painting 229, original painting
Located in Deddington, GB
Pocket Pink Hibiscus 229 (canvas size 5x5cm) is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with...
Canvas, Oil
$4,094
Trees 2 June 15:42 - Modern Nature Painting, Landscape, Forest, Contemplativ
Located in Hallein, AT
Robert Motelski's paintings are exceptional visions of nature, visions of space which surrounds us. They tell about being, fate and passing. They depend on the season of year, the ti...
Canvas, Oil
Point of Balance
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this work, flowers, a vase, and a fragment of an architectural form create a space of quiet co-presence. The objects do not construct a narrative or strive for symbolic completen...
Canvas, Acrylic
Magic tree
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this work I will continue to weave archetypal images of ancient times. The work enters into a dialogue with the symbolism of long-standing visual memory, which appears in various...
Canvas, Acrylic
The Bird: Contemporary Abstract Oil Painting on Canvas, Green
Located in Bogotá, Bogotá
The Bird is a Contemporary abstract oil painting on canvas in shades of green, created with professional Winsor & Newton and Rembrandt oil paints. The surface is built up through...
Cotton Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Drifting Between Light and Love - Contemporary Pool House Oil Painting
By Lilly Muth
Located in DE
Lilly Muth's architectural paintings transport viewers on a visual journey to a different world, where imagination knows no bounds and the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur...
Canvas, Oil
Where hours float unseen - Contemporary Architecture House Oil Painting
By Lilly Muth
Located in DE
Lilly Muth's architectural paintings transport viewers on a visual journey to a different world, where imagination knows no bounds and the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur...
Canvas, Oil
TORRUB by Ramon Enrich - 59 In Wide Square Painting, Red Tones
By Ramon Enrich
Located in Paris, FR
TORRUB is a unique acrylic on canvas painting by contemporary artist Ramon Enrich, dimensions are 150 × 150 cm (59.1 × 59.1 in). Dimensions of the framed artwork are 154 cm x 154 cm ...
Canvas, Acrylic
Hunt Slonem "Starling III" painting of a bird
By Hunt Slonem
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Slonem, Hunt Title: Starling III Date: 2024 Medium: Oil on wood Unframed Dimensions: 10" x 8" Framed Dimensions: 14.5" x 12.5" Signature: Signed by Artist on Verso Edi...
Oil
Homecoming - Bright Ethereal Green Abstract Painting, Signed, 50x50 CM
Located in Silverthorne, CO
My first painting back in the Italy Studio, where the nature around me is still veiled by winter, but the tiny buds on the tree branches and the primrose carpeting the forest floor a...
Oil
Mistress of the Autumn Garden
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this painting, the artist creates the image of a woman as the keeper of the harvest, of space, and of the rhythms of nature. Her figure rises from the earth as naturally as the ap...
Canvas, Acrylic
Red ShineLuna Eclipse Pocket Painting 221, original painting
Located in Deddington, GB
Pocket Luna Eclipse 221(canvas size 5x5cm) is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with a...
Canvas, Oil
Where Time Stood Still
Located in Zofingen, AG
Where Time Stood Still (From the "Synchronicity of Souls" series) "Where Time Stood Still" is a visual manifesto of safety, unconditional trust, and the mental connection between hum...
Canvas, Acrylic
$360Sale Price|20% Off
With You - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Portrait, Modern, Africa
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Tos...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Africa Motifs 6 -21st Century Contemporary, Abstract Expressionism, Design
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...
Canvas, Acrylic
In The Presence of Fragrant Bliss - Abstract Landscape Mixed Media Art on Canvas
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles artist Amber Goldhammer paints dramatic abstract compositions in acrylic on canvas featuring energetic brushstrokes. Goldhammer uses her contemporary paintings to express...
Canvas, Latex, Ink, Mixed Media, Spray Paint, Acrylic
$3,000
Estrella - Contemporary Abstract Landscape Pattern Rainbow Stripes Leaves, 2025
By Gabe Brown
Located in Kent, CT
Contemporary abstract landscape painting in oil on linen mounted on panel with carefully ordered leaf patterns and delicate rainbow lines in a fan shape on an atmospheric layered nav...
Linen, Oil, Panel
Lou Dog - Abstract Quirky Figurative Dog Cowboy Inspired Painting on Paper
By Jesse Black
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Jesse’s imagery often merges playful and gritty elements, blending floral patterns, vintage-inspired designs, and bold outlines with a touch of whimsy. His artwork exudes a sense of ...
Paint, Acrylic, Paper
Reminiscing
Located in Burlingame, CA
Elizabeth Geisler is best known for contemporary paintings of water that bridge realism and abstraction. At close range, her surfaces appear loose and ambiguous, but from a distance ...
Canvas, Acrylic
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Protected Truth -21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Mixed Media
By Bakare Abubakri-sideeq Babatunde
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube. This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Bakare Babatund...
Fabric, Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
$2,526
Silk Flutters in the Woods by Rene Gonzalez - Forest Landscape with Butterflies
Located in Paris, FR
Silk Flutters in the Woods is an acrylic on canvas by artist Rene Gonzalez, portraying butterflies dancing above a water puddle in a spellbinding nocturnal forest. This unique piece'...
Canvas, Acrylic
$520Sale Price|20% Off
Culture Identity 1 - 21st Century Contemporary Figurative Modern Women Painting
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist The...
Canvas, Charcoal, Mixed Media, Acrylic
When the time slowed for us - Contemporary Architecture House Oil Painting
By Lilly Muth
Located in DE
Lilly Muth's architectural paintings transport viewers on a visual journey to a different world, where imagination knows no bounds and the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur...
Canvas, Oil
Hibiscus Pink 229 & Lime Green Juicy Pocket Painting 228, diptych
Located in Deddington, GB
Pocket Pink Hibiscus 229 (canvas size 5x5cm) is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with...
Canvas, Oil
$2,850
Morning Blooming - Butter Yellow Floral Landscape Mixed Media Art on Canvas
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles artist Amber Goldhammer paints dramatic abstract compositions in acrylic on canvas featuring energetic brushstrokes. Goldhammer uses her contemporary paintings to express...
Canvas, Latex, Ink, Mixed Media, Spray Paint, Acrylic
$364Sale Price|20% Off
Geometric House Painting Small Scale Minimal Architectural Composition Framed
Located in FISTERRA, ES
Minimal geometric house painting with colorful toy-like forms and soft architectural landscape painted in acrylic on canvas. This small-scale acrylic on canvas by María Magán Lampón...
Canvas, Acrylic
$520Sale Price|20% Off
Passport 1 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Neo-Expressionism, Modern
By Wisdom Uche
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique; this is not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Ar...
Canvas, Acrylic
Open Sea
Located in Burlingame, CA
River Sequence Morning, by Brooks Anderson, created with oil on panel. 24 x 48 inches. Unframed and ready to hang and enjoy. Brooks Anderson is a contemporary painter whose oil lan...
Oil, Panel
"Blue Grasshopper"
Located in Zofingen, AG
Blue Grasshopper is about freedom of movement and freedom of choice; unity with the Universe and individuality of experience. It is about beauty in different rhythms. It is about the...
Canvas, Acrylic
Pearl — Light and Shadow
Located in Zofingen, AG
Series: Sea Within — Shells & Pearls. An open oyster reveals two luminous pearls — one soft and airy, the other deep, dark, and iridescent. Painted with a balance of realism and deco...
Canvas, Acrylic
Letting Go, Almost
Located in Zofingen, AG
Letting Go, Almost In this work, the figure appears in a state between holding and release. The body is no longer tightly controlled, yet it has not fully let go. This in-between st...
Canvas, Acrylic
$520Sale Price|20% Off
Guy - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Neo-Expressionism, Africa, Love
By Wisdom Uche
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique; this is not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Ar...
Canvas, Acrylic
$520Sale Price|20% Off
Pleasure - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Africa Women
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Gale - Contemporary Abstract Acrylic Painting on Canvas, Framed, 32x26 in
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This contemporary abstract acrylic painting was inspired by nature. Sandra Goldie’s artwork has been praised by one of Quebec’s leading abstract artists. Leopold Plotek described th...
Canvas, Acrylic
$775
Open Your Heart - Abstract Blue Graffiti Inspired 'Love You' Mixed Media Art
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles artist Amber Goldhammer paints dramatic abstract compositions in acrylic on canvas featuring energetic brushstrokes. Goldhammer uses her contemporary paintings to express...
Canvas, Latex, Mixed Media, Spray Paint, Acrylic
Hibiscus Yellow Pocket Painting 233, original painting
Located in Deddington, GB
Pocket Yellow Hibiscus 233 (canvas size 5x5cm) is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, wi...
Canvas, Oil
$3,350
Golden Shade of Love - Large Scale Mixed Media Graffiti Inspired Art on Canvas
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles artist Amber Goldhammer paints dramatic abstract compositions in acrylic on canvas featuring energetic brushstrokes. Goldhammer uses her contemporary paintings to express...
Canvas, Latex, Ink, Mixed Media, Spray Paint, Acrylic
New Girl in Town
Located in Zofingen, AG
New Girl in Town captures that delicate, almost imperceptible feeling of being slightly out of rhythm with the world around you — where everything seems settled, familiar, already un...
Canvas, Acrylic
Tender Presence I
Located in Zofingen, AG
Size: 95×95 cm (overall size with stretching 105×105 cm) Year: 2026 Materials: acrylic on canvas Shipping: Stretched, in reinforced cardboard packaging. This work is part of my “T...
Canvas, Acrylic
“Flamingo’s in a Lush Jungle Waterfall”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original acrylic paint on canvas painting of a lush jungle landscape with a waterfall and flamingo’s by the well known Haitian painter, Henri-Robert Bresil. Signed lower right by th...
Canvas, Acrylic
$675
Love Bomb - Original Minimalist Black and White Mixed Media Painting on Canvas
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles artist Amber Goldhammer paints dramatic abstract compositions in acrylic on canvas featuring energetic brushstrokes. Goldhammer uses her contemporary paintings to express...
Canvas, Latex, Ink, Mixed Media, Spray Paint, Acrylic
$520Sale Price|20% Off
Nicole - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Neo-Expressionism, Africa, Love
By Wisdom Uche
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique; this is not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Ar...
Canvas, Acrylic
$10,000
Grass Blue Wild Flower - Sky Blue Periwinkle Magenta Abstract Painting, 2022
By Josette Urso
Located in Kent, CT
Thoughtfully combined sections of varying textures and areas of pattern, stripes, circles, dots and undulations in cheerful, exuberant color. Little moments in luminous shades of sky...
Canvas, Oil
$675
Love Tide Washes In - Mixed Media Street Graffiti Inspired Artwork on Canvas
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles artist Amber Goldhammer paints dramatic abstract compositions in acrylic on canvas featuring energetic brushstrokes. Goldhammer uses her contemporary paintings to express...
Canvas, Latex, Ink, Mixed Media, Spray Paint, Acrylic
The artist and activist is the subject of a new show at Washington, D.C.'s National Gallery of Art.
Manhattan's Acquavella Galleries is showing a group of the artist's monumental works that have never been seen together.
Koloman Moser smashed the conservative conventions of art and design in fin-de-siècle Vienna. On the 100th anniversary of his death, the Austrian designer is being celebrated for his radically modern creations.