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.
Find original abstract paintings, sculptures, prints and other art on 1stDibs.
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Cotton Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Photographic Paper
1970s Abstract Art
Screen
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1970s Abstract Art
Screen
1970s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
1970s Abstract Art
Paper, Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Wax, Oil
1980s Abstract Art
Screen
1970s Abstract Art
Lithograph, Offset
2010s Abstract Art
Oil
1960s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Archival Pigment
2010s Abstract Art
Archival Pigment
2010s Abstract Art
Plaster
2010s Abstract Art
Archival Pigment
2010s Abstract Art
Archival Pigment
2010s Abstract Art
Archival Pigment
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Charcoal
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Oil, Acrylic
1970s Abstract Art
Mixed Media, Board
2010s Abstract Art
Ceramic
2010s Abstract Art
Gesso, Oil, Wood Panel, Muslin
20th Century Abstract Art
Watercolor
1970s Abstract Art
Lithograph, Offset
1960s Abstract Art
Lithograph
1960s Abstract Art
Crayon
1980s Abstract Art
Lithograph
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Acrylic, Watercolor, Canvas
2010s Abstract Art
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Steel
1970s Abstract Art
Screen
1950s Abstract Art
Paper
2010s Abstract Art
Gouache, Archival Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Paper, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Steel
20th Century Abstract Art
Archival Paper, Monotype
1980s Abstract Art
Etching, Screen
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Cotton Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Oil, Spray Paint, Acrylic
1970s Abstract Art
Screen, Plexiglass
1970s Abstract Art
Handmade Paper, Lithograph
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Paper, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Plexiglass, Archival Paper
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Archival Paper, Plexiglass
2010s Abstract Art
Glass
2010s Abstract Art
Plywood, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Paper, Ink
1960s Abstract Art
Aquatint