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.
#136, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
William Eggleston, Untitled (Mayfield, Kentucky) - Signed Light Box, Photography
Located in Hamburg, DE
William Eggleston (American, born 1939) Untitled (Mayfield, Kentucky), 2002 Medium: Transparency in aluminum light frame with electrical fittings (light box) Dimensions: 45.8 x 60.4 ...
Digital
#250, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
Gaia 59 - Clouds Sky Birds Murmuration Black and White Landscape Photograph
Located in Brighton, GB
Gaia 59 - Clouds and Sky Murmuration Black and White Photographic Print by Jaume Llorens Bach Gaia 59 is a 18cm x 24cm Black-and-White print on Premio Kozo 180gsm White Paper by Awa...
Photographic Paper, Black and White, Digital
Seastar, Lockheed T-33 Silverstar, Chino, USA, 2015 - Aero series (Air)
Located in New York City, NY
Manolo Chretien, France Seastar, Lockheed T-33 Silverstar, Chino, USA, 2015 27 x 43 in Edition of 9 Dye Sublimation on Aluminum 35 x 57 in Edition of...
Dye Transfer
Red Guard, Seversky at 12 Guardsman, Chino, USA
Located in New York City, NY
27 x 44 in Edition of 9 EUR 3.500 35 x 57 in Edition of 9 EUR 5.500 48 x 71 in Edition of 9 EUR 7.100 Dye Sublimation on Aluminum 48 x 77 in Edition of 9 EUR 9.100 Dye Sublimation...
Dye Transfer
Iris Eye #25, 2022, digitally made abstract print, edition of 3, signed
By Gary Cruz
Located in New York, NY
In Iris Eye #25, concentric rings anchor the composition, pulling the gaze inward toward a dense, radiant core. The symmetry is stable yet alive, as if vibrating with hidden movement...
Archival Pigment
$2,550
"Do You Remember? What About the Colors?" Giclee Print, Abstract Photography
By Hatice Besun
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Do You Remember? What About the Colors? / Simple series / Photograph Creator: Hatice Besun Creation year: 2014 Dimension: 28 x 30.1” External Dimension (with white border) : Heig...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment, Giclée
#96, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
BLEED # 202042 (Abstract Photography)
By Paul Snell
Located in London, GB
BLEED # 202042 (Abstract Photography) Chromogenic Print Face-mounted 3mm Matte Plexiglas - Unframed. Available on request - 4 week turnaround. Backed with extruded polystyrene, co...
Plexiglass, C Print
Intersect # 202101 (Abstract photography)
By Paul Snell
Located in London, GB
Intersect # 202101 (Abstract photography) Chromogenic Print Face-mounted 4.5mm Plexiglas - Unframed. Available on request 5-6 week turnaround. Backed with Dibond and C-channel hangi...
Plexiglass, C Print
#223, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
Gravity - Liquid 83 (Abstract Photography)
By Seb Janiak
Located in London, GB
Gravity - Liquid 83 (Abstract Photography) Chromogenic print. Edition 1/5. In his Gravity Liquid series, Janiak creates visual representations of the idea that form cannot exist wi...
C Print
Bleed # 202042 (Abstract Photography)
By Paul Snell
Located in London, GB
Bleed # 202042 (Abstract Photography) Chromogenic Print Face-mounted 3mm Matte Plexiglas - Unframed. Available on request - 4 week turnaround. Backed with extruded polystyrene, co...
Plexiglass, C Print
Bleed # 202020
By Paul Snell
Located in London, GB
Chromogenic Print Face-mounted 3mm Matte Plexiglas - Unframed. Available on request - 4 week turnaround. Backed with extruded polystyrene, concrete, acrylic, enamel and pigments (5...
Plexiglass, C Print
Trip to Egypt. Cyanotype
Located in Miami Beach, FL
The photos from the series Let Me Tell You a Story show, each one individually, certain themes through strongly narrative visual units. Each photograph is dedicated to a specific rep...
Archival Paper
#89, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
ID No. 17, 1, 3, 4, 7, 13, 15, 12 and 8. Limited edition photograph
Located in Miami Beach, FL
In this early photographic series, Dubravka Lazić turns her lens toward a subject rarely treated with such a quiet dignity: domestic cats. Shot in 2005, these portraits mimic the for...
Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
#44, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#264, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#70, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#95, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
Privilégio. From The Lavori in Corso series
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Eduardo Rezende’s 2024 series Lavori in Corso revisits one of the artist’s most enduring themes: the urban and architectural landscape — this time focused on construction sites, scaf...
Canvas, Archival Pigment
#45, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#50, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
$313Sale Price|20% Off
Green and Green.../ Print / Photography / Limited /Signed
Located in Slovak Republic, SK
Green and Green is a photography-print, limited 1/5 and signed. Inspiration was a very warm and sunny day, hopefully evoking calm and positive mood. When framed in a black frame with...
Photographic Paper, Color
#264, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#224, Abstract, Photography, Painting, digitally altered photography
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size Signed on front More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old ...
Archival Pigment
Iris Eye #13, 2022, digitally made abstract print, edition of 2, signed
By Gary Cruz
Located in New York, NY
Iris Eye #13, feels like a blossoming aperture—its center a radiant star encircled by deep magenta segments that suggest both iris fibers and flower petals. The repeated arc forms b...
Archival Pigment
$1,898Sale Price|20% Off
Contemporary large figurative painting of women on paper "Bound in grace"
Located in VÉNISSIEUX, FR
“Bound in Grace” is a contemporary figurative–abstract painting by French artist Natalya Mougenot, part of her ongoing series dedicated to women, solidarity, emotional connection, an...
Paper, Acrylic
$5,500
Starlite Art Deco Hotel On Miami Beach Fine Art Print Hahnemuhle Paper Baryta
Located in Miami, FL
Starlite Hotel Miami Beach Art Deco. The work is signed, dated, and numbered 4/15 in the lower right recto corner, with other sizes available. It is unframed and printed later. Prin...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
Unfold - black and white abstract flower photograph, limited edition of 10
By Ugne Pouwell
Located in London, GB
Unfold is a black-and-white abstract botanical photograph by Ugnė Pouwell, exploring form, shadow, and layered texture. A sculptural floral presence emerges from soft, drifting silho...
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper
#257, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
Colméia. From the Trama series
Located in Miami Beach, FL
The interlacing of what sustains In the series Trama, Eduardo Rezende turns his gaze to the hidden structures of the built environment — the elements usually concealed beneath the po...
Canvas, Archival Pigment
#22, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#88, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
Surrender - Ltd Ed
By Kat O'Neill
Located in New York, NY
Movement on Metal is part of a series of graphic, industrial, black and white photographic images. All are limited editions and produced with infused archival inks on metal which means the image is permeated into the metal thereby becoming part of the material versus being merely printed on the surface. It can be inside or outside in all seasons for years with very little loss of resolution. A mounting system would be included. The finish is a metal black gallery wrap. What that means is, imagine a metal frame that the image rests on. It is an inch deep and presents the art in an elegant, museum quality fashion...
Metal
#267, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#270, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#266, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#271, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#268, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
Dogs Running In Park With Early Morning Light, New York City
Located in Miami, FL
High angle view of dogs in park with long shadows. . Signed dated and numbered 2/15 lower right recto, other sizes available, unframed, printed later, Printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art ...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Inkjet
$667Sale Price|25% Off
Brassaï Photogravure of Picasso Sculpture, Editions du Chêne, France, 1948
By Brassaï
Located in Barcelona, ES
An evocative photogravure by Brassaï depicting one of Pablo Picasso’s sculptures, published in France in 1948. This work comes from the celebrated first edition of The Sculptures of ...
Paper
ID No. 11, 5, 1 and 15. Limited edition photograph
Located in Miami Beach, FL
"In this early photographic series, Dubravka Lazić turns her lens toward a subject rarely treated with such a quiet dignity: domestic cats. Shot in 2005, these portraits mimic the fo...
Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
#242, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size Signed on front More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old...
Pigment
$363Sale Price|20% Off
Agave No.2 - monochrome abstraction, from limited edition of 20
By Ugne Pouwell
Located in London, GB
Black and white fine art photograph capturing the sculptural elegance of an agave plant. The interplay of light and shadow emphasizes the organic geometry of the plant’s serrated edg...
Giclée
$1,300
Algas 88, 28, 87. Cyanotype photograhs mounted in high resistance glass dish
By Paola Davila
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Water is constant in the artist's visual investigation, for her water is no longer the stage in which the body's memory bursts, but rather the environment and protagonist, constant o...
Glass, Archival Pigment
Delphinium 2 - Royal Horticultural Society Wisley Flowers
By Giles Revell
Located in Brighton, GB
Delphinium 2 by Giles Revell This is an Archival Pigment Print available in this size of 50cm x 50cm in a limited edition of 25 prints. In Cartographic Colour, Giles Revell reduc...
Color, Archival Pigment, Photographic Paper, Pigment
$385Sale Price|20% Off
Ramunės - abstract analogue black and white floral photography, Ltd. 20
By Ugne Pouwell
Located in London, GB
'Ramunės' London, United Kingdom 2022 Limited edition of 20. Photograph printed on heavyweight fine art paper. Photograph is shipped fast and flat in secure thick cardboard packa...
Film, Photographic Film, Giclée
$418Sale Price|20% Off
'Lilly in Charcoal' abstract expressionism photography edition of 20
By Ugne Pouwell
Located in London, GB
'Lilly in Charcoal' 2023 Abstract expressionism black and white photography of Charcoal abstract drawing and Lilly. Photograph shot using mid-century large format film camera Linhof...
Paper, Photographic Film, Charcoal, Archival Ink, Archival Paper
#217, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#192, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
Blooms in Red - abstract analog colour photography, limited edition of 20
By Ugne Pouwell
Located in London, GB
This analogue colour photograph was created using a traditional film process, allowing the material qualities of colour and grain to remain present and tactile. The composition is pr...
Photographic Paper
$1,068
Bleeding Iron by Luca Marziale - contemporary photography, vivid colors, Iceland
Located in Paris, FR
Bleeding Iron is a photograph from the Testament series by contemporary photographer Luca Marziale. Dimensions : * 30 x 30 inches (76.2 x 76.2 cm), edition of 10 * 45 x 45 inches (...
Photographic Paper
$2,474Sale Price|20% Off
Koi carp and Blossom - Abstract Print on Glass with Gold leaf and Copper
Located in London, GB
"The bottomless depths of a private koi pond in a Sussex garden. Dancing light, rhythmic flow and a scattering of flowers on the surface, all help to convey the dark mystery of a life below the surface." - Valda Bailey...
Copper, Gold Leaf
Serenity. Cyanotype
Located in Miami Beach, FL
The photos from the series Let Me Tell You a Story show, each one individually, certain themes through strongly narrative visual units. Each photograph is dedicated to a specific rep...
Archival Paper
$1,068
Selassie IX by Luca Marziale - volcanic landscape photography, purple, Ethiopia
Located in Paris, FR
Selassie IX is a photograph from the Testament series by contemporary photographer Luca Marziale. Dimensions : * 30 x 30 inches (76.2 x 76.2 cm), edition of 10 * 45 x 45 inches (11...
Photographic Paper
#139, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
"WH52" Photography 60" x 50" inch Edition 1/10 by Giuliano Bekor
Located in Culver City, CA
"WH52" Photography 60" x 50" inch Edition 1/10 by Giuliano Bekor From WILD HORSES series Other sizes are available on request Medium: The artwork is printed on a high-quality museu...
Archival Pigment