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.
2010s Abstract Art
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
1960s Abstract Art
Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Oil, Paper
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Watercolor, Lithograph, Rag Paper, Emulsion
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil, Oil Pastel
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Lithograph, Offset
2010s Abstract Art
Metal
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
"This longhorn was located at a ranch in Southern Colorado," shares artist Heather Foster. "I am always amazed by longhorns because I expect them to be clumsy...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
1980s Abstract Art
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Abstract Art
Epoxy Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Oil
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Textile
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1980s Abstract Art
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Canvas, Ink, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Steel
2010s Abstract Art
Stainless Steel
2010s Abstract Art
Gesso, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Acrylic, Canvas, Mixed Media
Mid-20th Century Abstract Art
Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Wood, India Ink
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
2010s Abstract Art
Paper, Oil Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Offset
2010s Abstract Art
Archival Paper, Giclée, Gesso, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Ink, Pigment
1980s Abstract Art
Paper, Watercolor
1950s Abstract Art
Oil
1980s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Glass
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Gesso, Cotton Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Abstract Art
Lithograph
1950s Abstract Art
Lithograph
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Linen, Ink, Mixed Media, Paper
2010s Abstract Art
Stone, Granite
2010s Abstract Art
Bronze, Metal
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Wood Panel, Oil
2010s Abstract Art
Oil, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Plastic, Wood, Paper
2010s Abstract Art
Oil, Paper
2010s Abstract Art
Canvas, Varnish, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Art
Pigment