Abstract Abstract Prints
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.
Late 20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
Gouache, Paper, Ink
1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
Gold Leaf
Late 20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
Silver, Gold Leaf
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
Archival Ink, Canvas, Digital
Late 20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
Gold Leaf
1990s Abstract Abstract Prints
Gold Leaf
Late 20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
Silver, Gold Leaf
1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
Gold Leaf, Copper
1990s Abstract Abstract Prints
Textile, Silk, Archival Ink, Digital, Archival Pigment
1970s Abstract Abstract Prints
Rice Paper, Woodcut
1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
Handmade Paper, Color, Lithograph
1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
Engraving, Handmade Paper, Intaglio
1970s Abstract Abstract Prints
Handmade Paper, Etching, Aquatint
1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
Rice Paper, Lithograph
1990s Abstract Abstract Prints
Rice Paper, Archival Paper, Silk, Screen, Permanent Marker, Board, Mixed...
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
Ink, Rag Paper, Monotype, Gouache
1970s Abstract Abstract Prints
Engraving, Drypoint, Etching, Aquatint, Mixed Media, Pencil, Graphite
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Prints
Lithograph
1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
Rice Paper, Lithograph
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
Mixed Media, Encaustic, Washi Paper
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
Gold Leaf
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
Enamel
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
Enamel
Mid-20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
Bronze
Late 20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
Bronze
Late 20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
Bronze
Late 20th Century Abstract Abstract Prints
Bronze
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
Gold Leaf
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
Gold Leaf
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
Gold Leaf
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
Gold Leaf
2010s Abstract Abstract Prints
Gold Leaf