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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
Returnable Items Only
Self-Love is Luxury - Soft Abstract Floral Landscape Painting
Self-Love is Luxury - Soft Abstract Floral Landscape Painting

Self-Love is Luxury - Soft Abstract Floral Landscape Painting

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Drawing inspiration from an immersive and impressionistic interpretation of nature, Canadian artist Vé Boisvert paints textural original artworks that capture the fleeting effects of...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Finding Balance v2, Abstract Painting
Finding Balance v2, Abstract Painting

Finding Balance v2, Abstract Painting

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
Artist Terri Bell demonstrates abstract geometric figures in organized patterns. She balances distinct sections of circles and close linear work. “It organi...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Mixed Media

'Abstract, Ebony & Rust', San Francisco Bay Area Abstraction, Large Oil
'Abstract, Ebony & Rust', San Francisco Bay Area Abstraction, Large Oil

'Abstract, Ebony & Rust', San Francisco Bay Area Abstraction, Large Oil

By Eral Leek

Located in Santa Cruz, CA

Signed lower right, "Eral" for Eral Leek (American, 20th century) and dated 1962. A substantial, mid-century oil abstract comprising bold, overlapping rectangular compositional elem...

Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Ass

Ass

By Burton Gray

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Abstract print of a donkey

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Other Medium

Original Modern Contemporary painting on canvas, Abstract, Fantasy style, Framed
Original Modern Contemporary painting on canvas, Abstract, Fantasy style, Framed

Original Modern Contemporary painting on canvas, Abstract, Fantasy style, Framed

Located in Palm Coast, FL

Up for sale Original Abstract Acrylic Painting on canvas in a fantasy abstract style. A unique technique, very colorful. An unusual combination of colors, a flow from sharp to soft s...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic

Monochrome Large Orange Abstract Painting on Canvas Gabriela Meunie
Monochrome Large Orange Abstract Painting on Canvas Gabriela Meunie

Monochrome Large Orange Abstract Painting on Canvas Gabriela Meunie

Located in Barcelona, Barcelona

At Escat Gallery we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of trust and professionalism for our collectors. Every artwork in our collection comes with a Certificate of Au...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

Support. Diptych
Support. Diptych

Support. Diptych

Located in Zofingen, AG

“Support” is a work about inner stability and the quiet strength found within oneself. The painting explores a state in which reliance on external structures dissolves, giving way to...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media

Line of Silence No. 7
Line of Silence No. 7

Line of Silence No. 7

Located in Zofingen, AG

“Line of silence” is an ongoing painting cycle that explores the fragile boundary between presence and dissolution. Through a restrained color palette, layered surfaces, and a soften...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media

Set Adrift - Large Moody Atmospheric Abstract Alluring Oil Painting on Canvas
Set Adrift - Large Moody Atmospheric Abstract Alluring Oil Painting on Canvas

Set Adrift - Large Moody Atmospheric Abstract Alluring Oil Painting on Canvas

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Mark Acetelli’s oil and mixed media paintings awaken the viewer’s sense of exploration and adventure; they demand a new discovery. His artworks exhibit a chemistry of complexity and ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Burst II - large scale abstract photograph of caleidoscopic color explosions
Burst II - large scale abstract photograph of caleidoscopic color explosions

Burst II - large scale abstract photograph of caleidoscopic color explosions

By Christian Stoll

Located in San Francisco, CA

From Christian Stoll's body of works BURST (2015), an abstract exploration of high speed photographs capturing mesmerizing explosions of caleidoscopic color 27 x 40 inches (68 x 102...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Giclée

Large Vintage American Modernist Abstract Naturescape Lake View  Oil Painting
Large Vintage American Modernist Abstract Naturescape Lake View  Oil Painting

Large Vintage American Modernist Abstract Naturescape Lake View Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Vintage American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Measuring: 26 by 30 inches overall, and 22 by 25 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. Handsomel...

Category

1950s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Evidence " ( contemporary semi& abstract nature landscape)
"Evidence " ( contemporary semi& abstract nature landscape)

"Evidence " ( contemporary semi& abstract nature landscape)

Located in VÉNISSIEUX, FR

In this semi-abstract expressive artwork named "Evidence" I experience the world of nature through various colors such as purple, green, blue, red. While painting, I sought to capt...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic, Paper

Ocean's Jewels, Abstract Oil Painting
Ocean's Jewels, Abstract Oil Painting

Ocean's Jewels, Abstract Oil Painting

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
A layer of emerald green rests atop a base of purple, pale blue, and white, creating a striking contrast of light and dark. Scratches and marks added while the ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Oil

Golden Hour - Modern Warm Tone Atmospheric Landscape Oil Painting on Canvas
Golden Hour - Modern Warm Tone Atmospheric Landscape Oil Painting on Canvas

Golden Hour - Modern Warm Tone Atmospheric Landscape Oil Painting on Canvas

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Mark Acetelli’s oil and mixed media paintings awaken the viewer’s sense of exploration and adventure; they demand a new discovery. His artworks exhibit a chemistry of complexity and ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Reclining Figure (woman)
Reclining Figure (woman)

Reclining Figure (woman)

By William King (b.1925)

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

William King (1925-2015). Reclining figure, ca. 1965. Cast and welded bronze, 7 x 9.5 x 5 inches. Unsigned. William King, a sculptor in a variety of materials whose human figures traced social attitudes through the last half of the 20th century, often poking sly and poignant fun at human follies and foibles, died on March 4 at his home in East Hampton, N.Y. He was 90. His death was confirmed by Scott Chaskey, who is married to Mr. King's stepdaughter, Megan Chaskey. Mr. King worked in clay, wood, bronze, vinyl, burlap and aluminum. He worked both big and small, from busts and toylike figures to large public art pieces depicting familiar human poses -- a seated, cross-legged man reading; a Western couple (he in a cowboy hat, she in a long dress) holding hands; a tall man reaching down to tug along a recalcitrant little boy; a crowd of robotic-looking men walking in lock step. But for all its variation, what unified his work was a wry observer's arched eyebrow, the pointed humor and witty rue of a fatalist. His figurative sculptures, often with long, spidery legs and an outlandishly skewed ratio of torso to appendages, use gestures and posture to suggest attitude and illustrate his own amusement with the unwieldiness of human physical equipment. His subjects included tennis players and gymnasts, dancers and musicians, and he managed to show appreciation of their physical gifts and comic delight at their contortions and costumery. His suit-wearing businessmen often appeared haughty or pompous; his other men could seem timid or perplexed or awkward. Oddly, or perhaps tellingly, he tended to depict women more reverentially, though in his portrayals of couples the fragility and tender comedy inherent in couplehood settled equally on both partners. Mr. King's work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, among other places, and he had dozens of solo gallery shows in New York and elsewhere. But the comic element of his work probably caused his reputation to suffer. Reviews of his exhibitions frequently began with the caveat that even though the work was funny, it was also serious, displaying superior technical skills, imaginative vision and the bolstering weight of a range of influences, from the ancient Etruscans to American folk art to 20th-century artists including Giacometti, Calder. and Elie Nadelman. The critic Hilton Kramer, one of Mr. King's most ardent advocates, wrote in a 1970 essay accompanying a New York gallery exhibit that he was, "among other things, an amusing artist, and nowadays this can, at times, be almost as much a liability as an asset." A "preoccupation with gesture is the focus of King's sculptural imagination," Mr. Kramer wrote. "Everything that one admires in his work - the virtuoso carving, the deft handling of a wide variety of materials, the shrewd observation and resourceful invention - all this is secondary to the concentration on gesture. The physical stance of the human animal as it negotiates the social arena, the unconscious gait that the body assumes in making its way in the social medium, the emotion traced by the course of a limb, a torso, a head, the features of a face, a coiffure or a costume - from a keen observation of these materials King has garnered a large stock of sculptural images notable for their wit, empathy, simplicity and psychological precision." William Dickey King...

Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Bronze

Floral painting "Summer Blooming Flowers in a Blue Vase" Mixed Media on Paper
Floral painting "Summer Blooming Flowers in a Blue Vase" Mixed Media on Paper

Floral painting "Summer Blooming Flowers in a Blue Vase" Mixed Media on Paper

Located in VÉNISSIEUX, FR

Contemporary Floral Artwork – "Summer Blooming Flowers in a Blue Vase" – Mixed Media on Heavy-Weight Acid-Free Paper (21 × 29.5 cm / 8.3 × 11.6 in), Unframed “Summer Blooming Flowers in a Blue Vase” is a contemporary floral artwork by French artist Natalya Mougenot, created with a vibrant mix of watercolor and acrylic paints on heavy-weight professional acid-free paper. Measuring 21 × 29.5 cm (8.3 × 11.6 in), this one-of-a-kind original painting is sold unframed, giving you the freedom to frame it according to your taste and interior. The composition captures a lively bouquet bursting with color and texture. Flowers in shades of pink, purple, and luminous white are rendered with bold, gestural brushstrokes, creating movement, depth, and vibrancy. The blue-checkered vase...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic, Watercolor, Paper

Vintage American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Framed Large Oil Painting
Vintage American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Framed Large Oil Painting

Vintage American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Framed Large Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Vintage American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Unsigned. Measuring: 46 by 58 inches overall, and 45 by 57 painting alone.. In excellent original condition...

Category

1950s Abstract Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Lilacs In Vase - painting #1
Lilacs In Vase - painting #1

Lilacs In Vase - painting #1

Located in Zofingen, AG

Abstract flower painting with bouquet of lilacs contains a lot of positive energy, the bright picture is a beautiful wall decor for interior and wonderful gift for your loved ones. ...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Peppermint - contemporary, gestural, abstract, acrylic on canvas
Peppermint - contemporary, gestural, abstract, acrylic on canvas

Peppermint - contemporary, gestural, abstract, acrylic on canvas

Located in Bloomfield, ON

This colourful contemporary abstract painting is by Carol Sutton. In the 1970s, the paintings of a young Carol Sutton caught the attention of one of America’s best-known art critics...

Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic

White Standing Pod Ceramic Vessel Sculpture
White Standing Pod Ceramic Vessel Sculpture

White Standing Pod Ceramic Vessel Sculpture

By Adrienne Fierman

Located in East Quogue, NY

"White Standing Pod", Ceramic Sculpture Dimensions: 5 H × 5.5 W × 5.5 D Medium: Hand-built ceramic, glazed stoneware Adrienne Fierman’s "White Standing Pod" embodies the meditative ...

Category

2010s Abstract Art

Materials

Ceramic, Stoneware

Nocturne

Nocturne

By Marina Stern

Located in Los Angeles, CA

This work is part of our exhibition Marina Stern Luminary, the first retrospective of the artist since 2007. Marina Stern was a multifaceted New York-based artist whose works range...

Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Diversions 1970 Signed Limited Edition Screen Print
Diversions 1970 Signed Limited Edition Screen Print

Diversions 1970 Signed Limited Edition Screen Print

By Ian Tyson

Located in Rochester Hills, MI

Ian Tyson Diversions XI - 1970 Screen Print 16'' x 15'' inches Edition: signed in pencil and marked 23/150 Ian Tyson, British painter, printmaker and book artist, was born in Wallas...

Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Screen

1960's French Cubist Abstract Oil Painting - Monogrammed
1960's French Cubist Abstract Oil Painting - Monogrammed

1960's French Cubist Abstract Oil Painting - Monogrammed

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Artist/ School: French School, signed with initials, dated 1960's Title: Cubist abstract Medium: oil painting on board, unframed board: 13.75 x 10.5 inches Provenance: private co...

Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Oil

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.