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Conceptual Art

CONCEPTUAL STYLE

In 1967, artist Sol LeWitt wrote that in “Conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.” He was giving a name to an art movement that had emerged in the 1960s in which artists were less focused on their medium being something traditionally “artistic” and instead engaged in using any object, movement, form, action or place to express an idea.

LeWitt’s work was featured alongside an assemblage of notes, drawings and outlines by other artists in “Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art,” a groundbreaking show at New York City’s School of Visual Arts curated by Mel Bochner, another leading exponent of Conceptualism. Building on radical 20th-century statements, like Fountain (1917) by French artist Marcel Duchamp, Conceptual artists around Europe and North and South America were not interested in the commercial art scene and rather directly challenged its systems and values.

Stretching into the 1970s, this movement has also been called Post-Object art and Dematerialized art. Conceptual art reflected a larger era of social and political upheaval. Pieces associated with the style range from Roelof Louw’s Soul City (Pyramid of Oranges) (1967) — a work of installation art that sees fresh oranges stacked into a pyramid from which visitors are allowed to take one orange away — to On Kawara’s “Today” series, which saw the Japanese artist carefully painting a date in white acrylic on canvases consisting of a single color from 1966 to his death in 2014. Artists such as Ed Ruscha, who created the Twentysix Gasoline Stations book — a collection of photos of gas stations that is widely said to be the first modern artists’ book — made photography a major platform for Conceptual art, as did Bruce Nauman, who burned one of Ruscha's books and then photographed it for his own.

Conceptual art’s legacy of questioning artistic authorship, ownership and how to work with complex ideas of space and time had a significant influence on the decades of culture that followed, and it continues to inform art today.

The collection of Conceptual photography, paintings and sculptures on 1stDibs includes artworks by John Baldessari, Jenny Holzer, Lawrence Weiner, Joseph Kosuth and others.

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Style: Conceptual
Untitled
Untitled

Untitled

By Lluis Barba

Located in Barcelona, CT

The painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate

Category

Early 2000s Conceptual Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Untitled
Untitled

Untitled

By Lluis Barba

Located in Barcelona, CT

The painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate

Category

Early 2000s Conceptual Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Aguas Serenas
Aguas Serenas

Aguas Serenas

Located in Barcelona, CT

The painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate

Category

1970s Conceptual Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Untitled
Untitled

Untitled

Located in Barcelona, CT

the painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate

Category

1990s Conceptual Art

Materials

Mixed Media, Printer's Ink

What Ecstatic Danger

What Ecstatic Danger

By Alex Gingrow

Located in New York, NY

graphite, flashe, ink and gesso on paper, 22"x30" signed by the artist Alex Gingrow creates text-based paintings and drawings that are at turns witty, sardonic, poetic, self-deprecat...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Gesso, Ink, Graphite

"Hard Shell Confinement Structure"
"Hard Shell Confinement Structure"

"Hard Shell Confinement Structure"

By Patricia Smith

Located in New York, NY

Potentially Materialized Hard Shell Confinement Structure (Plot Plan No. 10618) framed, pen and ink with watercolor, signed on reverse by the artist. Beautifully rendered in ink an...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper

Relocation Lasso
Relocation Lasso

Relocation Lasso

By Patricia Smith

Located in New York, NY

Designated Problem Area Relocation Lasso (Plot Plan No. 170520 ) framed, with signature on reverse This ink and watercolor, work on paper is from Patricia Smith's newly released ser...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper

Rigged Opulence Compartment
Rigged Opulence Compartment

Rigged Opulence Compartment

By Patricia Smith

Located in New York, NY

"Rigged Opulence Compartment With Temporal Resonance Modules" framed, with signature on reverse This ink and watercolor, work on paper is from Patricia Smith's newly released series...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper

Conceptual Drawing: Plot Plan No. 170516
Conceptual Drawing: Plot Plan No. 170516

Conceptual Drawing: Plot Plan No. 170516

By Patricia Smith

Located in New York, NY

Plot Plan No. 170516 3-Ring Structure for Covert Spectacle With Self-Generating Concealment Mechanisms framed, signature on reverse This ink and watercolor, work on paper is from ...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper

Plot Plan No. 13821
Plot Plan No. 13821

Plot Plan No. 13821

By Patricia Smith

Located in New York, NY

Plot Plan No. 13821 For Proposed Positive Aspect Containment Strategy, watercolor and ink on paper, signed on reverse by the artist and presentd framed in a high quality shadowbox fr...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper

Plot Plan No. 170519
Plot Plan No. 170519

Plot Plan No. 170519

By Patricia Smith

Located in New York, NY

Plot Plan No. 170519 Full-Dress Protectionist Pad With Knotted Entrance Strategy This ink and watercolor, work on paper is from Patricia Smith's newly released series: "Shelter in P...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper

Plot Plan No. 170518
Plot Plan No. 170518

Plot Plan No. 170518

By Patricia Smith

Located in New York, NY

Plot Plan No. 170518 Self-Generating Polarization Structure With Pronounced Left Hemisphere Compartmentalization This ink and watercolor, work on paper is from Patricia Smith's newl...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper

Plot Plan No. 10616
Plot Plan No. 10616

Plot Plan No. 10616

By Patricia Smith

Located in New York, NY

Plot Plan No. 10616 Potentially Materialized Triple Chamber Confinement Study This ink and watercolor, work on paper is from Patricia Smith's newly released series: "Shelter in...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper

Elmwood and Oaklawn

Elmwood and Oaklawn

By Ross Racine

Located in New York, NY

archival pigment print image size: 23.5"x 31.5" on 26.75"x 34.5" sheet edition of 10 available unframed This print is a surreal depiction of an aerial view of a ...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Mesh Wonder Ball (1510)
Mesh Wonder Ball (1510)

Mesh Wonder Ball (1510)

By Joanne Ungar

Located in New York, NY

beeswax, paraffin, cardboard on wood 8.25"x7.75" Joanne Ungar’s use of wax obscures and mystifies the origin of the materials she has imbedded. In this work, the composition is d...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

Cardboard, Wax, Wood

Generalized Self Management
Generalized Self Management

Generalized Self Management

By Patricia Smith

Located in New York, NY

graphite, ink, and watercolor on paper 30"x22" available framed Known for her idiosyncratic cartographic explorations of the psyche and mental states, Smith incorporates outer a...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

Graphite, Ink, Paper, Watercolor

To The River

To The River

By Ross Racine

Located in New York, NY

edition of 5 available unframed image size: 23 1/2" x 31 1/2" Ross Racine is an artist living in Montreal (Quebec), Canada, and New York. Racine's works are drawn freehand on a ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Untitled, MT Inv. No 9-1-56 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 9-1-56 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 9-1-56 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 28,4 x 19,5 cm (11 1/8 x 7 5/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-059 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-059 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-059 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 19,6 x 12,5 cm (7 3/4 x 4 7/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-070 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-070 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 2-070 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 18,1 x 13,2 cm (7 1/8 x 5 1/4 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-185 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-185 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 3-8-185 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 14,9 x 10,4 cm (5 7/8 x 4 1/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 10-1-54 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 10-1-54 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 10-1-54 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 23,4 x 14,5 cm (9 1/4 x 5 3/4 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-3-74 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-3-74 – Miroslav Tichy, Woman, Czech, Photography

By Miroslav Tichy

Located in Zurich, CH

Miroslav Tichý (*1926, Czech Republic) Untitled, MT Inv. No 7-3-74 Unknown, ca. 1970-1990 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet 29,7 x 22,5 cm (11 3/4 x 8 7/8 in.) Unique Print only Tichý, practically reinventing photography from scratch, reconstitutes pictorialism along with it, and not as a distortion of the medium but as something like its essence. What counts for him is not only the image - just one moment in the photographic process - but also the chemical activity of the materials, which is never entirely stable or complete, and the delimitation of the results via cropping and framing. Marginal and exceptionally voyeuristic, in his methods Tichý could be described as an “art brut photographer” yet he is also marked by classical influences. Though his images are produced with poor-quality equipment and carelessly shot, they offer an idiosyncratic and almost hallucinatory vision of a fantastical, eroticised reality. With his endless return to the same subject and the volume and regularity of his production, Tichý’s work draws many parallels to certain practices of conceptual art during the same period. – Art, Black and White...

Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

AIDS
AIDS

AIDS

By General Idea

Located in Toronto, Ontario

In 1967, General Idea was founded in Toronto by AA Bronson (b. 1946), Felix Partz (1945-1994), and Jorge Zontal (1944-1994). Over the course of 25 years, they made a significant cont...

Category

1980s Conceptual Art

Materials

Screen

Nova
Nova

Nova

By General Idea

Located in Toronto, Ontario

In 1967, General Idea was founded in Toronto by AA Bronson (b. 1946), Felix Partz (1945-1994), and Jorge Zontal (1944-1994). Over 25 years, they made a significant contribution to po...

Category

1970s Conceptual Art

Materials

Graphite

Shaping the Essence, Aluminum Sculpture
Shaping the Essence, Aluminum Sculpture

Shaping the Essence, Aluminum Sculpture

Located in Brooklyn, NY

JORGE WELLESELEY "Shaping the Essence", 2019 Aluminum, concrete, LED 13.25 x 10 x 10 in Ed: 1/3 + 1AP Jorge Wellesley (Havana, 1979) Cuban-born artist based in Guttenberg, New Je...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Concrete, Metal

Illumination, 2018 LED Sculpture

Illumination, 2018 LED Sculpture

Located in Brooklyn, NY

JORGE WELLESELEY From the series: Subterfuges, ”Illumination”, 2018 Aluminum, LED, plexiglass, PLA, concrete 15.5 x 23.5 x 12 in Ed: 2/3 + 1AP Jorge Wellesley (Havana, 1979) Cuban...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Concrete, Metal

Man Becomes His Work - Cartoon
Man Becomes His Work - Cartoon

Man Becomes His Work - Cartoon

Located in Miami, FL

This is one of many cartoons by Gahan Wilson where the subject morphs into the identity of his work. "Wish Not to Be Disturbed for the Duration of Winter - Playboy Cartoon from 1960...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Ink

Monet Cane
Monet Cane

Monet Cane

By General Idea

Located in Toronto, Ontario

General Idea was formed in 1967 in Toronto and over the next nearly 30 years, the trio made a remarkable contribution to post-modern art. With their subversive approach and intere...

Category

1980s Conceptual Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Translucent

Translucent

Located in New York, NY

Mysterious woman. Oil on canvas. Fab wallpaper background. About the artist: “There's a dry ironic twist to Paul’s paintings that give the work — while realistic — a postmodern feeling of reflection, observation and cultural critique. Somewhere between the Cohen Brothers...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Witching Hour

Witching Hour

Located in New York, NY

Oil on canvas. Dramatic. Female centric. Nighttime. Mysterious. About the artist: “There's a dry ironic twist to Paul’s paintings that give the work — while realistic — a postmodern feeling of reflection, observation and cultural critique. Somewhere between the Cohen Brothers...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Praise for the Misguided

Praise for the Misguided

Located in New York, NY

Oil on canvas. Conceptual piece - female centric. About the artist: “There's a dry ironic twist to Paul’s paintings that give the work — while realistic — a postmodern feeling of reflection, observation and cultural critique. Somewhere between the Cohen Brothers...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Small PIece

Small PIece

Located in New York, NY

Digital Art. 2 masks at dusk. Produced on metal. Floats in white frame. About the Artist: Chad Knight’s vibrant digital art moves between the medita...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Metal

Elizabeth - 3D 6/10

Elizabeth - 3D 6/10

By Reisig and Taylor

Located in New York, NY

Homage to the famed Elizabeth Taylor. About the Artists: Animated through an assemblage of analog, digital, and lenticular photographic technologies, these selections from Reisi...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Lenticular

Renew

Renew

Located in New York, NY

Digital Art. Form scooping water. See reflection. Produced on metal with white 2 inch border. About the Artist: Chad is more than just a freelance ...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Metal

Relax

Relax

By William Taylor

Located in New York, NY

Figurative piece with a fun, simple narrative. The beauty of the piece lies in its simplicity. On 3/4 canvas.

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil Crayon, Acrylic

Wonder Woman - Original Lego Creation

Wonder Woman - Original Lego Creation

Located in New York, NY

Homage to Wonder Woman. Made completely of legos. About the Artist: Joseph Kraham is an "engineering artist". He combines thousands of Lego pieces...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Emergency Broadcast

Emergency Broadcast

Located in New York, NY

Figurative piece with a fun, simple narrative. The beauty of the piece lies in its simplicity. On 3/4 canvas.

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil Crayon, Acrylic

Borderless

Borderless

Located in New York, NY

Digital Art. Female Forms. Love theme. Pink hue. Produced on metal with white 2 inch border. About the Artist: Chad is more than just a freelance artist, he is the Head of 3D ...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Metal

Sci Fi Close Encounters with Orange New York City
Sci Fi Close Encounters with Orange New York City

Sci Fi Close Encounters with Orange New York City

By Mitchell Funk

Located in Miami, FL

Conceptual Photographer Mitchell Funk created a Sci-Fi image 2 years before the iconic Close Encounters of a Third Kind was released in 1977. Funk's work is really two images combine...

Category

1970s Conceptual Art

Materials

Archival Pigment, Archival Ink, Archival Paper

Prime Colors

Prime Colors

By Jim Molloy

Located in New York, NY

Nostalgic painting of vintage toy car that has been worked on by a novice mechanic. Oil on canvas with black frame one inch on front, two inches deep. This piece sold but commissio...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

URBAN MUSTANG
URBAN MUSTANG

URBAN MUSTANG

By Donna Bernstein

Located in New York, NY

The American mustang. Revered for his freedom, yet never truly free. Cast in a red glow of pain, his spirit is never taken, as his numbers are cut down. Created in acrylics, life-...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Street

Street

By Jim Molloy

Located in New York, NY

Nostalgic painting of vintage toy car with graffiti background. About the Artist: Jim Molloy is a studio and plein air painter. "I like to try...

Category

2010s Conceptual Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Conceptual art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Conceptual 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 Reinhard Görner, Kojun, Jose Sierra, and xulong zhang. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and 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 Conceptual art, so small editions measuring 1 inches across are also available. Prices for art made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $45 and tops out at $500,000, while the average work sells for $2,465.