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
Recognized Seller Listings
Untitled, from The Geldzahler Portfolio
Located in London, GB
Lithograph in colours, 1997, on Rives BFK paper, signed in pencil, numbered from the edition of 75 (there were also 15 artist’s proofs), printed by Gemini G.E.L. LLC, published by Th...
Category
1990s Abstract Art
Materials
Lithograph
Blue Waters
By Dorothy Hood
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Blue Waters" is an oil on canvas painting by Dorothy Hood. The painting size is 90 x 70 inches.
Early in her maturation, Hood established herself as an artist of metaphysically cha...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Copper Grey/Green
By Joel Perlman
Located in New York, NY
Joel Perlman is best known for his sculptures that juxtapose flat geometries of welded steel, aluminum, and bronze in three-dimensional space. His sculptures sketch themselves out in...
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Copper
Rising
Located in Belgravia, London, London
"Rising"
by Michael Thacker
British, 21st Century
Bardiglio Marble with Platinum Leaf
Sculpture size (HxWxD): 19.75 x 15 x 6 inches
Monogrammed and dated 9 5 21
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Materials
Stone, Platinum
Many-Worlds Interpretation (H.C.H.C.E.d)
By Colin Hunt
Located in New York, NY
Looking at a painting by Colin Hunt is like watching someone pass through a hole in our consciousness. As the landscape refracts through the sitter’s absence and fills that emptiness...
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Watercolor
MAXA. Mixed media Abstract painting on Canvas
By Alec Franco
Located in Miami Beach, FL
MAXA, 2024 by Alec Franco
Mixed media acrylic and oil pastel on canvas
Image Size: 130 cm H x 215 cm W
Unframed
Signed by the artist
_______
The artist's works are based on time and...
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic
One Plate, from We are the Jocular Clan
Located in London, GB
Offset lithograph in colours, 2018, on wove paper, signed in ink and numbered from the edition of 300, published by Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 47.6 x 47.6 cm. (18 3/4 x 18 3/4 in....
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Lithograph
Self-Portrait as Mad Queen
Located in New York, NY
Oil on canvas
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
One Plate, from We are the Jocular Clan
Located in London, GB
Offset lithograph in colours, 2018, on wove paper, signed in ink and numbered from the edition of 300, published by Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 47.6 x 47.6 cm. (18 3/4 x 18 3/4 in....
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Lithograph
Curious Sound
Located in Boca Raton, FL
Lyrical abstraction in black
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Materials
Oil
Self-Portrait as Hourglass
Located in New York, NY
Oil on canvas
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Generations 21
By Robyn Denny
Located in London, GB
Etching with aquatint on watercolour wash on paper
53 x 71 cms (21 x 28 ins)
Edition of 35, Set of 24
Signed, dated, and numbered 3/35
Published by Bernard Jacobson Ltd., London
Prin...
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Color, Etching, Aquatint
Proscenium II (loose lines around square centre)
Located in London, GB
Edition of 40
77.5 x 58.5 cms (30.5 x 23 ins)
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Etching
Paperclip Suite IIc (yellow/blue)
Located in London, GB
Etching, Edition of 25
45 x 45 cms (17.5 x 17.5 ins)
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Etching
Spill (Laocoön)
Located in New York, NY
Oil on canvas
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Still Life
Located in London, GB
Screenprint from 18 screens. On Velin Arches mould-made paper
Based on 'Still Life', textile dyes on hand-made Indian paper, 1978
Signed with initials and dated 1980 in pencil, lower...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Materials
Screen
Late Afternoon in the Museum of Modern Art, from ‘In the Museum of Modern Art’
Located in London, GB
Soft-ground etching from one copper plate printed in black. On buff BFK Rives mould-made paper
Signed, numbered and dated '79 in red crayon, lower centre
Published by Petersburg Press
Exhibition History: 'Howard Hodgkin Recollections’, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, 21 April - 14 May 2022
Literature: Jacqueline Brody, 'Howard Hodgkin, Alone in the Museum of Modern Art and Not Quite Alone in the Museum of Modern Art (1979)', The Print Collector's Newsletter, vol. 10, no. 3, July-August 1979, p. 93; Pat Gilmour, 'Howard Hodgkin', The Print Collector's Newsletter, vol. 12, no. 1, March-April 1981, p. 4 (ill.); 'Prints by Six British Painters: Stephen Buckley, Robyn Denny, Howard Hodgkin, John Hoyland, Richard Smith, John Walker', Tate Gallery, London, 1981-82 (n.p.); 'The Tate Gallery: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions 1980-82', London, 1984, p. 261; Mary Rose...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Materials
Etching
Generations 16
By Robyn Denny
Located in London, GB
Etching with aquatint on watercolour wash on paper
53 x 71 cms (21 x 28 ins)
Edition of 35, Set of 24
Signed, dated, and numbered 3/35
Published by Bernard Jacobson Ltd., London
Prin...
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Color, Etching, Aquatint
Elegy Black and Blues
By JM Rizzi
Located in Boca Raton, FL
JM Rizzi (aka JMR) is a New York artist. His work has roots in Abstract Expressionism yet favors a Neo Contemporary flair. JMR has catapulted his vision by painting bold curves and l...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Materials
Acrylic
Green Chateau II
Located in London, GB
Lithograph from one zinc plate printed in green with hand colouring in yellow gouache. On Velin Arches mould-made paper (300 gsm)
Signed with initials and dated 78 in pencil, lower c...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Materials
Color, Lithograph
Wave
By Louisa Chase
Located in New York, NY
Louisa Lizbeth Chase was born in 1951 to Benjamin and Wilda Stengel Chase in Panama City, Panama, where her father, a West Point graduate, was stationed. The family moved to Pennsylv...
Category
20th Century Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Untitled
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
Plate size: 36.8 x 27. 3 cms (14 1/2 x 10 3/4 ins)
Image size: 15.2 x 9.5 cms (6 x 3 3/4 ins)
Edition of 20
Category
1980s Abstract Art
Materials
Aquatint
SF64-045, Sam Francis, Acrylic, American Abstraction, Postwar, Work on paper
By Sam Francis
Located in Geneva, CH
SF64-045, Sam Francis, Acrylic, American Abstraction, Postwar, Work on paper
1964
Acrylic on paper
73 x 56.5 cm
94 x 75 cm / 37 x 29.5 in. (w...
Category
1960s Abstract Art
Materials
Paper, Acrylic
Untitled
By Bruce McLean
Located in London, GB
Ink, card and painted collage on paper
Edition of 10
101.6 x 80 cms (40 x 31 1/2 ins)
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Paint, Paper, Ink
Grey Folded Clouds - II Blue and white
By Joe Goode
Located in London, GB
Joe Goode
Grey Folded Clouds - II Blue and white (blue paper sky)
1971
Lithograph, Edition of 50
41 x 61 cms (16 x 24 ins)
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Lithograph
Conjugations
By Cleve Gray
Located in New York, NY
Cleve Gray
Conjugations, 1975
Vermont Series
Mixed media on paper
14 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches each
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Acrylic, Archival Paper
Whoosh
By James Walsh
Located in Boca Raton, FL
An abstract painter who has been an active member of the New York art scene since the early 1980s, James Walsh follows in the modernist tradition of Pollock in using art to reveal it...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Untitled
Located in New York, NY
Solidly grounded in Abstract Expressionist tradition, process-oriented painter Thomas Nozkowski’s method is predicated on relinquishing the idea of an end result. To highlight this, ...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Art
Materials
Woodcut
Generations 10
By Robyn Denny
Located in London, GB
Etching with aquatint on watercolour wash on paper
53 x 71 cms (21 x 28 ins)
Edition of 35, Set of 24
Signed, dated, and numbered 3/35
Published by Bernard Jacobson Ltd., London
Prin...
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Color, Etching, Aquatint
Russian II (red)
Located in London, GB
Edition of 50
51 x 51 cms (20 x 20 ins)
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Etching
Untitled
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
Sam Francis
Untitled
1995
Etching in colours, Edition of 35
53.3 x 45.7 cms (21 x 18 ins)
SF17887
Category
1990s Abstract Art
Materials
Etching
Generations 19
By Robyn Denny
Located in London, GB
Etching with aquatint on watercolour wash on paper
53 x 71 cms (21 x 28 ins)
Edition of 35, Set of 24
Signed, dated, and numbered 3/35
Published by Bernard Jacobson Ltd., London
Prin...
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Color, Etching, Aquatint
Generations 2
By Robyn Denny
Located in London, GB
Etching with aquatint on watercolour wash on paper
53 x 71 cms (21 x 28 ins)
Edition of 35, Set of 24
Signed, dated, and numbered 3/35
Published by Bernard Jacobson Ltd., London
Prin...
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Aquatint, Color, Etching
Mourning
Located in London, GB
111.8 x 140.3 cms (44 x 55.25 ins)
Edition of 50
Impressed with Solo Press stamp and the printer’s stamp. Lithograph (from three plates) with hand colouring in gouache (two greys...
Category
1980s Abstract Art
Materials
Color, Lithograph
Birthday Party
Located in London, GB
Lithograph from a stone printed in sepia and green, with hand colouring in two shades of blue gouache. On Velin Arches mould-made paper (300 gsm)
Signed and dated 77 in pencil, lower...
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Lithograph, Color
Two of a Kind IIIa (bright red x on green)
Located in London, GB
100.7 x 46.3 cms (40 x 18 1/4 ins)
Edition of 90
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Color, Lithograph
Dal più al meno (14)
Located in New York, NY
Roberto CARACCIOLO
Dal più al meno (14), 2016
Oil on canvas
57 1/2 x 72 inches
146 x 183 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Untitled
By Gilad Efrat
Located in Houston, TX
Gilad Efrat
Untitled, 2016
oil on canvas, 175 x 250 x 5 cm (68.9 x 98.4 x 2 in)
This painting is part of new series of work by Israeli artist Gilad Efrat. The paintings comprise th...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Higher Ground
By Richard Saba
Located in Boca Raton, FL
Richard Saba, the American abstract painter, is best known for works that relate to Lyrical Abstraction and Abstract Expressionism. He is renowned for his colorful palette, appearing vastly open yet concise and analytically conceived.
The artist’s abstract works juxtapose geometric forms with organic splashes, much like celestial bodies seen through the Hubble Telescope...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Parterre
Located in London, GB
52 x 52 cms (20 1/2 x 20 1/2 ins)
Edition of 75
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Color, Screen
Drawing Boards I (grey / purple)
Located in London, GB
Edition of 60, Set of 5
74.9 x 56.5 cms (29.5 x 22.25 ins)
Category
1980s Abstract Art
Materials
Etching
Drawing Boards II (No.3)
Located in London, GB
Edition of 30, Set of 5
74.9 x 59.1 cms (29 1/2 x 23 1/4 ins)
Category
1980s Abstract Art
Materials
Etching
Tropic Fruit
Located in London, GB
80 x 94 cms (31.5 x 37 ins)
Edition of 100
Category
1980s Abstract Art
Materials
Color, Screen
Damp
By Sam Francis
Located in London, GB
66 x 94 cms (26 x 37 ins)
Edition of 20
Rives BFK paper
Proofs: I BAT, 4 AP, 7 CTP, 9 XP
Signed lower left; numbered lower left; publisher's chop lower left.
Published by Tama...
Category
1960s Abstract Art
Materials
Color, Lithograph
Purple In Bloom
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Acrylic on canvas with whispers of glitter coated with heavy resin.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Art
Materials
Resin, Glitter, Ink, Acrylic
Switch-It #7
Located in Houston, TX
Robert Ruello
Switch-It #7, 2016
graphite, watercolor, and colored pencil on paper
20 x 15 inches
Energetic and charged with visual power, the Switch-It series is movement and transition visualized. Ruello’s formal investigation of how we move through and disrupt various environments (digital, analog, and in-between) is rendered through these graphic elements. As he notes, “As a result of this disruption, the array is no longer stable or predictable — visual illusions and shifting figure/ground relationships begin to emerge.” Ruello’s work stems from an enjoyment in the tension between the stable and the unpredictable. Though not figural, his work presents elements that are recognizable from our visual vernacular. Digital screens, popular science...
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Watercolor, Archival Paper, Color Pencil, Graphite
Switch-It #9
Located in Houston, TX
Robert Ruello
Switch-It #9, 2016
graphite, watercolor, and colored pencil on paper
20 x 15 inches
Energetic and charged with visual power, the Switch-It series is movement and transition visualized. Ruello’s formal investigation of how we move through and disrupt various environments (digital, analog, and in-between) is rendered through these graphic elements. As he notes, “As a result of this disruption, the array is no longer stable or predictable — visual illusions and shifting figure/ground relationships begin to emerge.” Ruello’s work stems from an enjoyment in the tension between the stable and the unpredictable. Though not figural, his work presents elements that are recognizable from our visual vernacular. Digital screens, popular science...
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Watercolor, Archival Paper, Color Pencil, Graphite
Graysland
Located in Boca Raton, FL
A leading abstract painter in his lifetime, Dan Christensen drew from a range of Modernist sources to produce colorful, luminous compositions that featured giant dots, whirling loops...
Category
20th Century Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Bedroom
Located in London, GB
Lithograph from five zinc plates, using tusche and crayon with splatter, printed in red, orange, green, black, and pink. On J Green paper (250 gsm)
Signed, numbered and dated '68 in ...
Category
Mid-20th Century Abstract Art
Materials
Color, Lithograph
Bourée 2BAA2 - bright, geometric abstraction, modernist, acrylic on canvas
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This lively graphic contemporary composition was painted by Burton Kramer, internationally renowned as a fine graphic designer. Kramer now expresses his modernist and minimalist aest...
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Preliminary drawing for a sculpture
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Preliminary drawing for a sculpture
Black crayon on paper, 1959
Signed and dated middle right (see photo)
A rare 1950's AbEx drawing.
Provenance:
Estate of the artist
Michael and Ala...
Category
1950s Abstract Art
Materials
Crayon
Sweet Earth - bold, modern, colorful, minimalist, abstract, acrylic on canvas
Located in Bloomfield, ON
Jack Bush had told Milly Ristvedt that she was ahead of her time. The Canadian modernist’s deep dive into the world of colour and its potential continued in the seventies. Sweet Eart...
Category
1970s Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Piano Reflections 2 - dark, cool, expressive, abstracted, acrylic on canvas
By Pat Service
Located in Bloomfield, ON
Every morning for 15 minutes, Pat Service finds peace in playing the piano—classical music she learned as a teenager. This lyrical composition was inspired by such a moment rendered ...
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Mirror Mirror - tall, geometric abstract, powder coated outdoor steel sculpture
Located in Bloomfield, ON
A multitude of polished mirrors shine as light bounces off them, reflecting the landscape and you. This is Ryan Van Der Hout’s elegant contemporary sculpture called Mirror Mirror. In...
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Steel
Four Hills - vibrant, minimalist, abstracted landscape, acrylic on canvas
By Pat Service
Located in Bloomfield, ON
BC artist Pat Service is well known for her beautiful landscapes. In the last few years she has interpreted those images in minimalist form rendered in vivid colours. Four Hills is a...
Category
2010s Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Procession - large, red, blue, pink, contemporary abstract, acrylic on canvas
Located in Bloomfield, ON
Swipes and shapes in rust orange, bubble gum pink, aqua, ultramarine and black move in an orchestrated procession across a soaked charcoal ground in this acrylic by Milly Ristvedt. This large, square acrylic canvas is a poetic narrative of space, light, texture and movement through the application of color.
Milly Ristvedt (b. 1942, Kimberley, BC) RCA, began her career in Toronto in 1964 after studies with Takao Tanabe...
Category
1980s Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Father & Son - colorful, expressive, abstracted figurative, acrylic on canvas
By Pat Service
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This charming, unembellished portrait of a little boy held closely by his father as they wade in the water is by Pat Service. The backdrop for the painting is lime green…a summer col...
Category
Early 2000s Abstract Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Ancient Landscape II (Ancient City)
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Signed and titled in pencil by the artist;
Annotated: "E130 A/1" in pencil lower right
Estate stamp verso
Edition: 20
Provenance:
Estate of the Artist (Foundation sta...
Category
1950s Abstract Art
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.
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