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
Gold
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
1980s Abstract Art
Screen
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic, Stretcher Bars
1970s Abstract Art
Screen
2010s Abstract Art
Linen, Mixed Media
1990s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Glass
1980s Abstract Art
Parchment Paper, Crayon, Pastel, Pencil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Spray Paint, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Cotton Canvas, Oil
1960s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Paper, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Silk, Cord, Pigment
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Acrylic, Cardboard
2010s Abstract Art
Paper
2010s Abstract Art
Paper, Acrylic, Oil
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Paper, Ink, Pencil, Lithograph, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Resin, Plexiglass, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Giclée
1960s Abstract Art
Screen
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Archival Ink, Giclée, Archival Pigment
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Stainless Steel
2010s Abstract Art
Cotton Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
20th Century Abstract Art
Watercolor, Rag Paper
Artist Comments
I have used grade one Braille as a form for recognizing what is unknowable and unseeable, until we feel it. As a way of connecting sight with feeling, intertwining the two. This piece is meant to be touched, explored, felt. Made in honor of Gerda Klein, after reading her autobiography of her experiences as a Holocaust survivor. In Braille it reads and then there was one, from whom came many. Found, reclaimed and resurrected- an abstract wood relief ;painting; in an assortment of soft and hard woods puzzled together within a salvaged antique window...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Archival Ink, Giclée, Archival Pigment
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Ink, Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Pigment
2010s Abstract Art
Clay, Acrylic
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Pastel
1950s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1970s Abstract Art
Screen
2010s Abstract Art
Gesso, Charcoal
2010s Abstract Art
Paper, Ink
1960s Abstract Art
Screen
1980s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Abstract Art
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Paper, Ink, Gouache
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Plastic, Mixed Media, Permanent Marker
1980s Abstract Art
Found Objects, Cardboard, Screen
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Plastic, Mixed Media, Permanent Marker
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Latex, Mixed Media, Spray Paint, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Stainless Steel
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Lacquer, India Ink, Acrylic, Pigment
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars
2010s Abstract Art
Ceramic




