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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1990s Abstract Art
Lithograph
Artist Comments
Artist Terri Bell arranges organic circular shapes in a two-part composition. Subtle pops of color punctuate the predominantly monochromatic grid in unpredict...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Offset
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic, Varnish
2010s Abstract Art
Etching
2010s Abstract Art
Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Bronze
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil, Paper
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
1970s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Cotton Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
1980s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
1980s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Archival Ink, Acrylic, Oil, Gesso, Archival Paper, Giclée
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Lithograph
1980s Abstract Art
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Lithograph, Offset
2010s Abstract Art
Gesso, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Oil
1990s Abstract Art
Oil, Board
Artist Comments
A two-toned contemporary abstract piece features a textured surface. In her signature style, artist Janet Hamilton applied thick layers of paint using drywall...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Textile, Cotton
1980s Abstract Art
Lithograph
1960s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital Pigment
2010s Abstract Art
Paper, Acrylic, Monotype
2010s Abstract Art
Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Abstract Art
Ink, Laid Paper, Etching
Mid-20th Century Abstract Art
Masonite, Oil
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Paper, Acrylic
20th Century Abstract Art
Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1980s Abstract Art
Mixed Media, Alkyd
1970s Abstract Art
Lithograph
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Paint, Acrylic
1940s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Abstract Art
Oil
1970s Abstract Art
Lithograph
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1990s Abstract Art
Silk, Ink, Mixed Media, Permanent Marker, Screen
1970s Abstract Art
Permanent Marker, Lithograph, Offset
2010s Abstract Art
Paper, Acrylic
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Mixed Media
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Watercolor, Gouache, Etching
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1990s Abstract Art
Handmade Paper, Screen
2010s Abstract Art
Linen, Charcoal, Acrylic, Carbon Pencil
2010s Abstract Art
Stainless Steel
1960s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Oil
Early 20th Century Abstract Art
Watercolor, Rag Paper, Pencil
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Oil
1960s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Oil, Acrylic