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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21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Giclée
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Archival Pigment
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Chalk, Tempera
1990s Abstract Art
Oil, Canvas
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Ink, Acrylic
20th Century Abstract Art
Screen
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Mixed Media
1960s Abstract Art
Lithograph
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Acrylic, Watercolor, Paper
2010s Abstract Art
Steel, Wire
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Paint, Acrylic, Board
1980s Abstract Art
Bronze
1980s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
Artist Comments
Fascinated by the birds that soar over her Big Sur home, artist Heidi Hybl paints an abstract depiction of their migration. Their bold forms contrast the soft...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Oil, Canvas
2010s Abstract Art
Steel
2010s Abstract Art
Gold Leaf
2010s Abstract Art
Giclée
2010s Abstract Art
Acrylic, Wood Panel, Mica
1950s Abstract Art
Paper, Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Archival Ink, Giclée, Archival Pigment
2010s Abstract Art
Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Art
Enamel
2010s Abstract Art
Cotton Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Pigment
1980s Abstract Art
Mixed Media, Laid Paper
1970s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
1970s Abstract Art
Screen
2010s Abstract Art
Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Mixed Media, Oil, Archival Paper
1960s Abstract Art
Monoprint, Monotype
2010s Abstract Art
Paper, Mixed Media
1970s Abstract Art
Screen
1960s Abstract Art
Linocut
2010s Abstract Art
Panel, Giclée
2010s Abstract Art
Acrylic
1940s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1980s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Acrylic
1960s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1960s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Pigment
1960s Abstract Art
Lithograph, Screen
1960s Abstract Art
Etching, Aquatint
2010s Abstract Art
Paper, Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Abstract Art
Masonite, Oil
1960s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Concrete, Enamel
2010s Abstract Art
Paper, Acrylic
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Offset
2010s Abstract Art
Oil, Board
1940s Abstract Art
Cotton Canvas, Oil
1970s Abstract Art
Screen