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Abstract Art

ABSTRACT STYLE

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.

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Style: Abstract
Color:  Pink
Socony
By Charles Christopher Hill
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Charles Christopher Hill, American (1948 - ) Title: Socony Year: 1980 Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 15/19 Size: 30.5 x 23 inches Frame Size...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

G 32-15
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA -- Steven Kinder talks a lot about energy, form and movement and getting at the essence of something. Getting to the middle of it. ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Large Oil on Canvas Painting Titled: "Obscura"
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Oil on Canvas,(colors: red orange green grey) Born in Havana, Cuba, in the late 70s during a well-documented time of religious and political oppression, abstract expressionist artis...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Oil

Celebration, Abstract Canvas Collage and Acrylic Painting, Pink Orange Green
Located in Denver, CO
Original abstract painting titled "Celebration" dated 1984 by abstract expressionist Chicago artist Margo Hoff (1910-2008). Signed by the artist in the lower right corner. Painted in...
Category

20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic, Canvas

Baby Red, Framed
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA --Steven Kinder talks a lot about energy, form and movement and getting at the essence of something. Getting to the middle of it. H...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic, Canvas

Colored Boots Times Square
Located in Miami, FL
Signed and dated on lower right, numbered on verso 2/15 , unframed. Other sizes available, other sizes available , printed later, Printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art paper
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Archival Pigment, Photographic Paper

Pat Lay, DM49161212, 2016, Paint, Paper, Panel, Digital Print
Located in Darien, CT
In the last decade Pat Lay’s artwork has focused on technological metaphors of the human experience. In this series of digital collages, digital images scanned from computer circuit ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Paint, Paper, Panel, Digital

F-Red-G28-15 in Red, Framed
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA --Steven Kinder talks a lot about energy, form and movement and getting at the essence of something. Getting to the middle of it. He wa...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic, Canvas, Pigment

Cable Car and Motorcycle , San Francisco
Located in Miami, FL
Graphic and original depiction of familiar scene. Signed and dated on lower right, numbered on verso, Edition 2 of 15, Printed later. Unframed
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Photographic Paper

Lola & Guillermo II
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Acrylic on canvas Born in Havana, Cuba, in the late 70s during a well-documented time of religious and political o ppression, abstract expressionist artist Mirtha Moreno, immigrated ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic

Eduardo Infante, Pink Siesta, 2013
Located in New York, NY
This pastel and spray paint on paper, depicts two white abstract figures. One person lays on her back, and the other figure is on top. Their arms are stretched out towards each oth...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Pastel, Spray Paint

Wormhole-70
Located in Rye, NY
The color of the piece changes with the LED light that is plugged into an outlet. With this design, there are 2 sizes: 28" x 10" x 28" or this one, which is 20" x 8" x 20",
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Stainless Steel

Moultonboro, from the Eccentric Polygons portfolio
Located in Palo Alto, CA
Created in 1974, this lithograph and screenprint on Arches paper is hand signed and dated by Frank Stella (Massachusetts, 1936 - ) in pencil in the lower right margin and is numbered...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph, Screen

"Actions Speak Louder Than Words"- Colorful Mixed Media Abstract Painting
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Paddy Cohn is an abstract artist whose sensuous, mysterious explorations into textures, layers and distressed materials reflect a childhood spent in the landscapes of the Caribbean. ...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic

Side Track 48
Located in New York, NY
Earth, air, water, and fire are the center subjects of my art. I live in New York City-it is close to the ocean, and I’ve developed a deep affinity for the sea, which has also evoked...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Paint, Cotton Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

"Early August Garden" Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting
Located in Brecon, Powys
"It's not a likeness of the garden but a picture trying to capture how I felt and enjoyed its profusion, light and 'hot' colour as I was sitting in it." P Alder Oil on linen. Framed
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Linen, Oil

Composition bleue et rouge L57
Located in Paris, FR
Lithograph, 1966 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and annotated EA Artist proof Edition : 75 Publisher : Galerie im Erker (St. Gallen) Printer : Erker-Presse (St. Gallen) Catalog :...
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Reef Painting #3
Located in New Orleans, LA
Hackett’s paintings defy popular convention. They are not figurative, decorative, representative, or even completely abstract. While it is hard to tie them to any one style or movement, they manage to be a part of all of them. Hackett’s work is influenced by pattern, midcentury design, art of indigenous peoples, and the art and craft movement, combined with a loose examination of the natural world. She creates a visual environment that is both recognizable yet strangely mysterious. While steeped in art history and influenced by a range of artists from Miro to Arthur Dove, Charles Burchfield, Agnes Pelton, Florine Stettheimer...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Oil, Archival Paper

Green and Blue - Original Acrylic Paint on Fabric by Giorgio Griffa - 2009
Located in Roma, IT
Green and Blue Variations is an original contemporary artwork realized in 2009 by the Italian artist Giorgio Griffa (Turin, 1936). Original acrylic painting on fabric. This contem...
Category

Early 2000s Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic

What Would Dolly Do?
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Lynn Sanders is an artist excited by beauty: architecture, foliage, landscapes, seascapes, interiors. She finds palettes and shapes in her environment and...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic Polymer, Ink, Acrylic

Pink Lush (Abstract Painting)
Located in London, GB
Pink Lush (Abstract Painting) Painting / acrylics, epoxy resin, phosphorescence on wood - Unframed This artwork is exclusive to IdeelArt. Danny Giesbers is a Dutch, autodidact a...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Resin, Wood, Acrylic

Pink Lush (Abstract Painting)
Located in London, GB
Pink Lush (Abstract Painting) Painting / acrylics, epoxy resin, phosphorescence on wood - Unframed This artwork is exclusive to IdeelArt. Danny Giesbers is a Dutch, autodidact a...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Resin, Wood, Acrylic

L'Express Beyrouth-Enfer
Located in London, GB
Edition of 100. *This print is supplied within a clamshell box, with book of the same name, as issued.
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Etching

For a New World #1738
Located in Miami, FL
Work on paper, oil and collage. Unique, 1 of 1 piece. Cerj Lalonde moves smoothly from the canvas to the camera, from computers to installations, producing and showcasing an extraordinarily rich and complex body of work created during the last 30 years. His purpose is to pursue a direct, and, in each case, a different communication with the spectator. It can be said that Lalonde works as a team with himself, not only to develop his artwork, but also to sharpen his personal ideas about contemporary culture, trends... Lalonde is putting a lot of time, energy and thought into his new media and technology productive structure, where he can directly address his issues... His paintings, installations, photographs and web pages, are intended to function each in its own way, as an overt revision and critique of the contemporary art system, as they establish parallel dialogues between the artist, the public, and the curatorial values. "Lalonde, the painter" Cerj Lalonde works his painting with a conceptual approach, as an attempt to restate the validity of painting as a practice per-se. His abstract language ranges from lyric abstractionist pieces to many personal interpretations on art history masterpieces, as specific reflections upon geometric abstract paintings like Malevich´s black square series, or Albers study of color, among others. Lalonde holds many layers as an artist. His years of experience as a painter and thirst for art history and critique have helped him develop into a consciously literate artist. Formally, his domain of techniques ranges from drawing, printing, and primarily acrylic painting by means of a wild contrasting palette. But more than any type of formalism, Lalonde´s work is a strong statement about painting itself and how he approaches abstraction from a conceptual viewpoint. His paintings celebrate the power and meaning of color and texture, the imperative voice of contrast and stridence, and the million of possible solutions for a white canvas. I also see in his artwork a psychoanalytical interpretation of art, and a curiously unintentional approach to oriental philosophy appears throughout his multi sized body of work. In many of his canvas, the presence of the square has been integrated as an element of equilibrium and unity to the soul of the artwork itself. Lalonde is specifically interested in the qualities of painting as a media: “What Painting and only Painting can do”. Of all arts, painting is perhaps the most intimate and personal of art languages. It reaches the viewer at a last phase, in the gallery, or museum, or exhibition space. In the meanwhile, there is a time frame between the moment when the artist finishes his work and it gets shown. This space of time is silence. It can be said that the gap between the act of painting and its way out of the studio has had Lalonde wondering about other strategies of approaching the viewer, the critic, and to challenge the art world as a system. New media's and technology In his body of work related to the Internet, the use of language can be established as the first notable addition where the silent scream that comes from his paintings invades the screen and transforms it into words. We can feel the imperative urge to communicate. Lalonde addresses everyone and no one, and a certain/uncertain dialogue is established between him and the anonymous viewer/Web surfer/browser who reads it. Lalonde has produced multiple web sites. With this media, he has taken over a physical/nonphysical space to express his ideas about the act of seeing, of looking, and getting intoxicated by the gaze, by the sight, by the cognitive look, and the subjective one. Another interesting aspect is the inclusion of his images as an artist in several ways. For example, in SELF PORTRAIT AS A FAMOUS ARTIST he presents himself in all the archetypical attire of the romanticized representation of the artist. Lalonde has reverted all his irony and sarcasm as images that appear as brushstrokes on his Web sites. Another image that frequently appears is the sweet face of a very young woman, who looks at the browser with sweetness and nostalgia. As websites are build through layers, Lalonde has as well, constructed layers of impact, thought, and reflection, by means of the multiplicity of images that appear, ranging from his own paintings, installations, portraits, and text. He is interested in what defines art, who validates artwork, how artist’s success has a strong pull to media and critic dependency. Lalonde points out these issues as loud as a silent scream. Phrases such as the Dominance of Curatorial Ideology, Global Mono Cultural Art Discourse or Hegemony of the Global Curatorial Class are samples of titles that frame parts of his Web visual discourses. In his installations and performances such as THE NO SHOW, and WORKING TO BECOME RICH AND FAMOUS SO YOU CAN LOVE ME FOREVER, Lalonde discusses the notion of the self and identity, the artist as a social figure, and the severe critique of the contemporary art system, and society at large. He questions the validity and the ideology of the curatorial establishment, the marketing methods, and the issues of the self - as he queries the conventional paradigm of the artist. On his Web pages, Lalonde metamorphoses from an anonymous painter in his studio to a more public personae. His gaze looks at the viewer, his open mouth screams and questions the browser constantly, sometimes as an outsider and sometimes from the hypothetical voice of the viewer’s conscience. In SEEING, a photographic installation that can be considered as a milestone in his work, he presents a dark room that has many different sized eyes that are looking at the viewer. An interesting aspect of Lalonde’s digital work is the presence of a perpetual reflection that not only shows the act of seeing itself, but in a more profound way it presents the subconscious mind of the viewer. He inverts his role of an artist and establishes a dialogue with the unconscious of the spectator, both through his installations and digital art work...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media, Oil

Long Hair
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Acrylic on canvas.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

"The Pear, The Rose, The Wrench" Abstract Paper Collage John Peters 2005
Located in Arp, TX
John Peters 1927-2019 "The Pear, The Rose, The Wrench" 2005 Collage on board 8"x10" Came from a portfolio of the artist's work
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Illustration Board, Magazine Paper

Serie Umbral
Located in New York, NY
Gel ink on canvas 15.75 x 21.65 in unstretched
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Gel Pen

Rouge
Located in New Orleans, LA
The color field and action painting movements have always influenced Francine Tint’s work. She is a colorist first and foremost. She works instinctively, creating expressive pieces, ...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Red Edged Magenta
Located in New York, NY
Richard Anuszkiewicz Red Edged Magenta, 1977 - 2017 36 x 36 inches Acrylic on canvas
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Heart Connection
Located in Austin, TX
SANDI NEIMAN (b. 1959) Title: Heart Connection Medium: Mixed Media; Cold Wax and Oil Pigment on cradled board Measurements: 12 x 12 in
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Large Abstract French Portrait of Lady Signed Oil on canvas
By Philippe Gabriel
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
"Portrait of a Lady" by Philippe Gabriel (French, b.1963) signed oil painting on canvas, unframed painting: 36 x 28.5 inches Stunning original oil painting by the contemporary Fren...
Category

Early 2000s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Modernist Abstract Expressionist Mod Day Glo Neon Color Field Acrylic Painting
Located in Surfside, FL
Large Abstract Expressionist color field painting. Similar in the manner of the colorful abstract works of Paul Jenkins. This one is a very vibrant day glo neon color. This is bein...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic, Archival Paper

Floating Downstream #47
Located in Santa Monica, CA
I make expressionistic paintings and drawings that embrace the irrational. The imagery in these works derives from the subconscious and is often characterized by grotesque attributes...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Pink, from Flowers
Located in New York, NY
Screenprint in colors, on Rives BFK paper Sheet: 31 x 31 in. (78.7 x 78.7 cm) Edition of 55 + 15AP Signed and numbered in pencil on the lower margin Published by Upsilon Gallery, New...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Screen

Essence - Abstract Oil Painting Red Yellow Orange Blue Brown Beige White Grey
Located in Sofia, BG
"Essence" is an abstract oil painting by Maestro Lili Sotirova. The painting is unframed. About the artwork: TECHNIQUE: Oil painting STYLE: Abstract, Contemporary Edition : Uniqu...
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Birth
Located in New York, NY
color-filed painting, various shades of pink with gold on the edges
Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Monumental Pink Abstraction
By John Richard Fox
Located in Bloomfield, ON
Strips of canvas saturated in pink are shaped and curated into a large vertical swath in this bold painting. The hue, tone and personality of this dramatic rose colour framed by pass...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic Polymer

Abstract art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Abstract art available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add art created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, purple, orange, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Sumit Mehndiratta, Giorgio Lo Fermo, Francisco Nicolás, and Dadodu . Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Synthetic Resin Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Abstract art, so small editions measuring 0.02 inches across are also available.

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