Abstract Art
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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2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Panel
Artist Comments
Artist Valerie Berkely presents a fiery sunset above thick silhouetted trees. The warm rays of the sun brighten the landscape with cooling hues of violet spreading across the forest floor. With her finger painting technique, Valerie uses transparent oils on top of gold iridescent acrylic textures creating a luminescent glow. It results in a captivating image with a gentle flow of movement.
About the Artist
Valerie Berkely uses her finger tips as brushes to create her abstract paintings. For Valerie, the art is all about the process, the paint, her mood, and the moment. She admires the artist Wolf Kahn, who once said, “the picture is the conclusion of an experiment in which the hint of an image becomes actuality." Like Kahn, Valerie’s paintings combine pictorial landscapes with painterly abstraction. The vibrant primary colors capture the hues of the sun rising and setting, and the texture of her fingers across the surface divides sea, land, and sky. There is something very dreamy about these works, exemplified by their color, texture, and atmospheric quality. Valerie’s first “art epiphany†was seeing Seurat's La Grande Jatte at the Art Institute of Chicago. “Bowled me over! I actually fell down. And I knew I was to become a painter.â€
Words that describe this painting: small, trees, sunlight, sun, sunset, oilpaint, nature, forest, impressionism, etching, impressionism, nature, oil painting, purple
Golden Glow...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Melissa Gannon explores various methods and techniques in her art career to create a captivating image of ferns and underbrush deep in the woods. Utilizi...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil, Board
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Birch, Mixed Media, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Metal
1990s Abstract Art
Organic Material, Wood, Found Objects
2010s Abstract Art
Wood, Birch, Plywood, Wood Panel
Artist Comments
A vibrant and energetic abstract in hues of red, orange, and white with cooling tones of turquoise and blue by artist Alicia Dunn. Layers and layers of color da...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Color, Digital
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Abstract Art
Oil, Linen
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Masonite, Oil
1970s Abstract Art
Canvas, Wood, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Encaustic, Board
1950s Abstract Art
Oil
1980s Abstract Art
Pastel, Archival Paper
2010s Abstract Art
Enamel
1960s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Acrylic, Linen, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Archival Pigment
2010s Abstract Art
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Wood, Birch, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Acrylic, Wood, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Wood, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Oil, Acrylic, Wood
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Paper, Ink, Pen
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Archival Pigment
2010s Abstract Art
Color Pencil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
1950s Abstract Art
Graphite, Lithograph
1980s Abstract Art
Wood, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Glass, Plastic, Wood, Paper, Oil
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Oil, Masonite
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Oil
1960s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
1960s Abstract Art
Oil, Canvas
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
1980s Abstract Art
Oil
1960s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
1960s Abstract Art
Masonite, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Oil Pastel, Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor, Gouache
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Oil Pastel, Gouache
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Paper, Ink, Pen
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Mixed Media