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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
Record, Blair Tate, Geometric woven textile wall sculpture
Record, Blair Tate, Geometric woven textile wall sculpture

Record, Blair Tate, Geometric woven textile wall sculpture

By Blair Tate

Located in Wilton, CT

Record, woven linen, cotton cord, 102" x 27", 2020. This abstract, geometric woven textile wall sculpture is by contemporary American fiber artist, Blair Tate. "In weaving there i...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Fabric, Textile, Tapestry, Cotton, Linen

Circles Abstract Painting, Gouache & Ink, Mid-20th Century, Signed
Circles Abstract Painting, Gouache & Ink, Mid-20th Century, Signed

Circles Abstract Painting, Gouache & Ink, Mid-20th Century, Signed

Located in Chesterfield, MI

Gouache & Ink abstracts from the Mid-20th Century are unique. This is by Dutch artist Andrus Theodore Vossen born in the Netherlands in 1893 and he died in 1963. It is pencil signed ...

Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Ink, Gouache

Fanum

Fanum

Located in Dallas, TX

Oil on paper

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Oil

Chanjun Zheng Landscape Original Oil On Canvas "Color On Mountain"
Chanjun Zheng Landscape Original Oil On Canvas "Color On Mountain"

Chanjun Zheng Landscape Original Oil On Canvas "Color On Mountain"

Located in New York, NY

Title: Color On Mountain Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 15.5 x 23 inches Frame: Framing options available! Condition: The painting appears to be in excellent condition. Note: This...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Estampas Del Popol Vuh
Estampas Del Popol Vuh

Estampas Del Popol Vuh

By Carlos Mérida

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist: Carlos Merida (Guatemalan, 1891-1984) Title: Estampas Del Popol Vuh Year: 1943 Medium: Color lithograph Edition: Unumbered of 1000 Paper: Wove ...

Category

1840s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Morning Dew - Original Calm Soft Tone Abstract Blue Landscape Painting on Canvas
Morning Dew - Original Calm Soft Tone Abstract Blue Landscape Painting on Canvas

Morning Dew - Original Calm Soft Tone Abstract Blue Landscape Painting on Canvas

By Amber Goldhammer

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles artist Amber Goldhammer paints dramatic abstract compositions in acrylic on canvas featuring energetic brushstrokes. Goldhammer uses her contemporary paintings to express...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Latex, Mixed Media, Spray Paint, Acrylic

Original-Once in a Sturgeon Moon-Brit Awarded Artist-plein-air with gold-leaf
Original-Once in a Sturgeon Moon-Brit Awarded Artist-plein-air with gold-leaf

Original-Once in a Sturgeon Moon-Brit Awarded Artist-plein-air with gold-leaf

Located in London, GB

Painted en plein air beneath the final full moon of summer—the Sturgeon Moon—this work captures a rare moment when the florals in Shizico Yi’s garden glowed under brilliant moonlight...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Gold Leaf

5322 - Framed Figurative Abstract Textural Serene Earth Tones People Painting
5322 - Framed Figurative Abstract Textural Serene Earth Tones People Painting

5322 - Framed Figurative Abstract Textural Serene Earth Tones People Painting

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Swiss artist Edith Konrad paints figurative abstract compositions with mixed media on canvas. She layers her expression of her emotional response to the subjects with dynamic texture...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Board, Canvas, Mixed Media

Bhutan Abstraction with Green - 1
Bhutan Abstraction with Green - 1

Bhutan Abstraction with Green - 1

By Ricardo Mazal

Located in Los Angeles, CA

This unframed, signed, limited edition pigment print by world renown artist Ricardo Mazal exists in an edition of 30. Paper size is 35 inches h x 30 inches w with an image size of 26 inches h x 27 inches w. Born in Mexico City in 1950, Ricardo Mazal moved to Barcelona Spain in 1986, and since 1990 has lived and worked in New York City, as well as Santa Fe New Mexico. Mazal’s work explores the process of visual perception as it takes form in the human consciousness. His paintings depict the passage of time, not by illustrating events but by leaving their residue to dissipate in space like a still photograph of a speeding object blurred to abstraction. In the last decade he has been honored with ten individual museum exhibitions, including a retrospective at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City and the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo (MARCO) in Monterrey. He has also shown at the Museo Nacional de Anthropologia, Mexico City and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. KORA follows the direction begun by La Tumba de La Reina Roja (The tomb of the Red Queen...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Mid-Century French Abstract Expressionist Oil on Canvas.
Mid-Century French Abstract Expressionist Oil on Canvas.

Mid-Century French Abstract Expressionist Oil on Canvas.

Located in Cotignac, FR

A large mid-century French abstract expressionist oil and acrylic on canvas by Jean-Louis Ladislas. Signed and dated 69 to the reverse. Presented in a slim baton wood frame. A highl...

Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

Md Tokon - Rain in the Autumn, Painting 2015

Md Tokon - Rain in the Autumn, Painting 2015

By Md Tokon

Located in Stamford, CT

Collection: Earth Acrylic on canvas Md Tokon's style has reflected the art of American Abstract Expressionists. Md Tokon spent his early years in Jhenidah and Dhaka. The physicality...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Paint, Acrylic Polymer, Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

An Elegy of Rest
An Elegy of Rest

An Elegy of Rest

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 propels them into her work,...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic Polymer, Ink, Acrylic

Mid Century Don Quixote Portrait Spanish Catalan Expressionist Oil
Mid Century Don Quixote Portrait Spanish Catalan Expressionist Oil

Mid Century Don Quixote Portrait Spanish Catalan Expressionist Oil

By Jaume Muxart Domenech

Located in Sitges, Barcelona

Mid Century Don Quixote Portrait Spanish Catalan Expressionist Oil TECHNICAL SHEET Oil on canvas Mid-20th century 55 × 33 cm (21.7 × 13 in) Frame: 58 × 36 cm (22.8 × 14.2 in) Signed lower right Metal frame with matte finish Very good overall condition DESCRIPTION Striking Mid-Century modernist interpretation of Don Quixote by Jaume Muxart, executed in a strong Catalan Neo-Figurative Expressionist language characteristic of Spanish post-war painting. The elongated vertical figure is constructed through palette-knife structure and dense impasto, reducing Cervantes’ legendary knight to a symbolic psychological presence rather than a literal portrait. The helmet-like white head emerging from a deep burgundy background creates a dramatic apparition typical of Muxart’s mature figurative period. The figure represents Don Quixote as an existential literary archetype frequently explored in Spanish modern painting and particularly within the renewal of Catalan modern art associated with artists connected to the Grupo Taüll, one of the key movements in the evolution of post-war avant-garde painting in Barcelona. Compact in scale but visually intense, the painting combines strong decorative presence with the intellectual depth characteristic of Muxart’s Quixote interpretations. ARTIST BIO Jaume Muxart (1922–2019) was a major Catalan painter and founding member of the influential Grupo Taüll, alongside Antoni Tàpies, Modest Cuixart, Josep Guinovart and Joan-Josep Tharrats. After early exhibitions in Barcelona in the late 1940s he travelled to Paris on scholarship, where he encountered the international avant-garde that shaped his expressive language. He later represented Spain at the São Paulo Biennial and exhibited widely across Europe and the Americas. Muxart served as professor and later dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona and became a member of the Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi. His work is held in numerous institutional and private collections. ARTISTIC CONTEXT / INSPIRATION This painting belongs to the expressive Neo-Figurative tradition developed in post-war Spain and Catalonia, where literary archetypes such as Don Quixote became vehicles for psychological and symbolic exploration. Comparable resonances can be found in the structural figuration of Bernard Buffet, the expressive intensity of Antonio Saura, and the material experimentation associated with Antoni Tàpies, Modest Cuixart and Josep Guinovart within the post-war Catalan avant-garde. don quixote painting...

Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Oil

Fields I /// Joan Mitchell Large Diptych Etching Aquatint Female Abstract Artist
Fields I /// Joan Mitchell Large Diptych Etching Aquatint Female Abstract Artist

Fields I /// Joan Mitchell Large Diptych Etching Aquatint Female Abstract Artist

By Joan Mitchell

Located in Saint Augustine, FL

Artist: Joan Mitchell (American, 1925-1992) Title: "Fields I" Portfolio: Fields *Signed and numbered by Mitchell in pencil (on second sheet) lower right Year: 1992 Medium: Original E...

Category

1990s Abstract Art

Materials

Etching, Aquatint, Intaglio, Handmade Paper

Glaciers - Large Original Ice Blue and Green Abstract Contemporary Artwork
Glaciers - Large Original Ice Blue and Green Abstract Contemporary Artwork

Glaciers - Large Original Ice Blue and Green Abstract Contemporary Artwork

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Clara Berta’s acrylic and mixed-media paintings blend texture and color to create harmony, mystery, and depth on the painted surface. Her paintings transform spaces into Zen environm...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic

Waves of Time

Waves of Time

Located in Brooklyn, NY

This abstract acrylic painting on wood is inspired by the mid-century masters. This bold composition is created with pale blue, ecru and dark blue highlights. Framed in a vintage g...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic

Geometric Line Studies Neutral — Nine-Piece Drawing Series by Murray Duncan
Geometric Line Studies Neutral — Nine-Piece Drawing Series by Murray Duncan

Geometric Line Studies Neutral — Nine-Piece Drawing Series by Murray Duncan

By Murray Duncan

Located in Toronto, Ontario

Geometric Line Studies Neutral — Nine-Piece Series is an exceptional collection of original mixed-media works on paper by Toronto artist Murray Duncan, presented as a cohesive grid i...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Paint, Paper, Ink, Pencil

Miracle
Miracle

Miracle

By Marino Marini

Located in Santa Monica, CA

MARINO MARINI (1901-1980) MIRACLE - Etching, Signed and numbered 70 / 75 in pencil. Image 15 ½ x 10 ½ inches,. Full sheet 22 3/8 x 15 inches with deckle edges. Plate IV of the serie...

Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Etching

Converge

Converge

By Greg Joubert

Located in Santa Fe, NM

Hand carved aspen wood sculpture torched burnished and painted Greg Joubert was born in 1977 and raised in the seaside New England town of Hingham, Massachusetts. Joubert gained hi...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Wood, Acrylic

Master American Contemporaries
Master American Contemporaries

Master American Contemporaries

By Alex Katz

Located in Wien, 9

The art work is signed in the print at the lower left and numbered in pencil: P.P. II/IV This special art piece "Master American Contemporaries" by Alex Katz (*1927) is a colour lit...

Category

1990s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph, Paper

Purple Rain, Abstract Impressionist Oil Painting on Canvas, 36x36

Purple Rain, Abstract Impressionist Oil Painting on Canvas, 36x36

Located in Baton Rouge, LA

Springtime’s budding inspiration! Purple Rain captures wildflower fields seen on one of my many roadtrips. Embrace the enchanting hues of purple on canvas to bring a touch of eleganc...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Oil

Up and beyond Abstract Painting, Colorful Expression, 130X95 cm
Up and beyond Abstract Painting, Colorful Expression, 130X95 cm

Up and beyond Abstract Painting, Colorful Expression, 130X95 cm

Located in New York, NY

Above and beyond, into the soul, purely from emotion. Graphic artwork, bold colors. "I am an interior designer and painter, bridging worlds – connecting lines and colors, precision...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Chalk, Acrylic

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.