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.
#232, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#63, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#207, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#139, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#260, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
$245Sale Price|20% Off
Eclipsed in Time - black and white abstract portrait, limited edition of 20
By Ugne Pouwell
Located in London, GB
"Eclipsed in Time" suggests a moment of transition, obscurity, or transformation—much like an eclipse where something is temporarily veiled yet still present. The title reflects the ...
Giclée
#130, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#234, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#241, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
Delphinium, 2018 - Abstract Geometric Floral Print Wall Decoration Interior
By Giles Revell
Located in Brighton, GB
Delphinium by Giles Revell This is an Archival Pigment Print available in this size of 50cm x 50cm in a limited edition of 25 prints In Cartographic Colour, Giles Revell reduces th...
Color, Archival Pigment, Photographic Paper, Pigment
#166, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
Green Abstracted Ikat Photograph
By Janet Van Arsdale
Located in Soquel, CA
Stunning green abstract photograph reminiscent of Ikat fabric by Janet Van Arsdale (American, 20th Century). Signed in pencil lower left corner. Presented in black frame with double ...
Ink, Photographic Paper, Giclée
#128, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#202, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#205, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
$290Sale Price|86% Off
White Mood Abstract Photography Print, Signed, Limited Edition 1/5
Located in Slovak Republic, SK
Photography / fine art print, limited 1/5, signed by the author.
Photographic Paper, Digital
#171, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
Urban Curves and Forms, Abstract Photogram Cyanotype in Blue Tones and White
By Kind of Cyan
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive handprinted unique cyanotype that takes its inspiration from the mid-century modern shapes. It's made by layering paper cutouts and different exposures using uv-...
Emulsion, Watercolor, Monotype, Paper
#185 Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
$880Sale Price|20% Off
Sea Cliffs Diptych II ( Pair abstract cyanotypes each framed to 25 x 15)
Located in Oakland, CA
Though it resembles a giant abstract watercolor painting owing to its soft gradations and luminous quality, this is a form of photography called a cyanotype, photogram or sun print. ...
Paper, Archival Paper, Rag Paper, Monotype, Photogram
#141, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
Untitled 110/3
Located in London, GB
C Print. Unframed. Richard Caldicott is most well known for this earlier work series which used Tupperware containers as the subject for his photographs. This work is edition 7/15. ...
C Print
Untitled (W.O.F 15-41)
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Works of Fire When I look into the night sky I am awestruck by the darkness that is the universe. As the sparse light of the stars descends, I am entangled in a state of wonder, sea...
Silver Gelatin
#257, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#232, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#179, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#211, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#232, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
$420
Infinity Pool Water Reflections, Blue & White Pattern, Handmade Cyanotype Print
By Kind of Cyan
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. "Infinity Pool" is a sophisticated image that captures the water reflections shimmering over ...
Emulsion, Watercolor, Photographic Paper, C Print, Lithograph, Monotype
#132, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
$3,600
Italian Vintage Dye Transfer Photograph Franco Fontana Color Landscape Photo
Located in Surfside, FL
Franco Fontana (Italian, born 1933) Title: Landscape 1987 Edition 6/15 Medium: dye-transfer Dimensions: Frame 21.5 x 27.5. Sight 12 x 20. Provenance: Monique Goldstrom Gallery Franco Fontana (Italian, 1933) is an Italian photographer. He is best known for his Minimalist abstract colour landscapes. He was influenced by Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism. Franco Fontana was born in 1933 in Modena. He started taking photographs in the 1950s when he was working as a decorator in a furniture showroom. In 1961 he joined a local amateur club in Modena. The experience would be a turning point in his career, and Fontana went on to have his first solo exhibition in 1965 at the Società Fotografica Subalpina, Turin and at the Galleria della Sala di Cultura in Modena in 1968. Since then he has participated in more than 400 group and solo exhibitions including the exhibit Lines, Spheres and Glyphs at Robert Klein Gallery with works by photographers: Franco Fontana, Mario Giacomelli, Ernst Haas, Gyorgy Kepes and Aaron Siskind. Franco Fontana is considered one of the most relevant photographers of our time, In 1963 he exhibited his work at the Biennale of Color in Vienna, and in 1968 he held his first solo exhibition in Modena. Fontana often pares landscapes down to their essential elements, producing flat, geometric compositions reminiscent of the color field abstract expressionist paintings of Mark Rothko Ad Reinhardt and Barnett Newman, by underexposing his transparencies. Contrasting blue skies with green or yellow grass and the rigid lines of buildings with the softness of puffy clouds, he makes color and texture his primary subjects. He has also shot in Polaroid film, Cibachrome, C Print and chromogenic prints. His art has been acquired by some of the most important museums worldwide, including the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, MoMA in New York, Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Museum of Modern Art in Norman, Oklahoma, National Gallery in Beijing, Australian National Gallery in Melbourne, University of Texas in Austin, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris. Fontana has photographed for advertising campaigns for brands such as Fiat, Volkswagen, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, Snam, Sony, Volvo, Versace, Canon, Kodak, Robe di Kappa, Swissair, and has been a magazine photographer for publications including Time, Life, Vogue (USA and France), Venerdì di Repubblica, Panorama, and with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and The New York Times. Fontana's first book, Skyline, was published in 1978 in France by Contrejour and in Italy by Punto e Virgola with a text by Helmut Gernsheim. Fontana is the art director of the Toscana Foto Festival. He has received numerous awards, such as the 1989 Tokyo Photographer Society of Japan - The 150 Years of Photography - Photographer Award. Fontana is especially interested in the interplay of colours. His early innovations in colour photography in the 1960s were stylistically disruptive. According to art critic Giuliana Scimé, Fontana "destroyed all the structures, practices, and technical choices within the Italian tradition." Fontana uses 35mm cameras, and as noted by Iwan Zahar, deploys distant viewpoints with telephoto lenses to flatten contours in a landscape of crops and fields into bands of intense, saturated colour. This is an effect that Franco Lefèvre has described as 'dialectical landscapism'. Of his use of colour in his 2019 retrospective exhibition Sintesi ('Synthesis') at Fondazione Modena Arti Visive, curator Diana Baldon has observed; “His bold geometric compositions are characterised by shimmering colours, level perspectives and a geometric-formalist and minimal language, By adopting this approach during the 1960s, Fontana injected a new vitality into the field of creative colour photography for then multicolour was not in fashion in art photography., The way Fontana shoots, dematerializes the objects photographed, which loose three-dimensionality and realism to become part of an abstract drawing”. Aside from the rural landscape Fontana has applied his graphic sensibility to other subjects: city architecture, portraiture, fashion, still-life and the nude. He was included in the exhibition of the Helmut Newton Collection along with Brassaï, Diane Arbus, Franco Fontana, Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, June Newton, Just Loomis, Man Ray, Mark Arbeit...
Dye Transfer
#168 Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#173 Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#131, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
Untitled (W.O.F 15-16)
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Works of Fire When I look into the night sky I am awestruck by the darkness that is the universe. As the sparse light of the stars descends, I am entangled in a state of wonder, sea...
Silver Gelatin
$2,080Sale Price|20% Off
Hope in My Embrace - Abstract Expressionist Art Photography
Located in Zürich, CH
Der Foto-Künstler, Roger Reist, reflektiert die Welt um uns herum und in seinen Bildern auf zauberhafte Weise: "Die gesellschaftlichen Muster zu erkennen, diese anhand von meinen Bil...
Black and White
$2,080Sale Price|20% Off
Human Alien - Abstract Expressionist Art Photography
Located in Zürich, CH
Der Foto-Künstler, Roger Reist, reflektiert die Welt um uns herum und in seinen Bildern auf zauberhafte Weise: "Die gesellschaftlichen Muster zu erkennen, diese anhand von meinen Bil...
Black and White
Stilbon (Seven)
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Stilbon Stilbon in the ancient Greek religion, is the sky god of Hermaon, the planet Mercury, and one of the Astra Planeta. The word, Stilbon, means shining. All works are contact p...
Silver Gelatin
Untitled (W.O.F 2-16)
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Works of Fire When I look into the night sky I am awestruck by the darkness that is the universe. As the sparse light of the stars descends, I am entangled in a state of wonder, sea...
Silver Gelatin
#261, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
Wave III, Unique Monotype Cyanotype, Horizontal Diptych of
By Kind of Cyan
Located in Barcelona, ES
Wave III, is an exclusive handmade cyanotype horizontal diptych that captures the gentle curl of an organic mid-motion wave. Rendered in deep Prussian blues and ethereal whites, the...
Paper, Monotype
#225, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
Cosmosis Collages 4A57F Comp no 85 Blue black (Abstract Photography)
By Anne Senstad
Located in London, GB
Cosmosis Collages 4A57F Comp no 85 Blue black (Abstract Photography) Photographic C Prints, printed on Canson Platinè fiber Rag 310g - Unframed "Edition of 6 + 2Ap Turnaround ti...
Paper, C Print
#45, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#99, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#203, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
$290Sale Price|80% Off
August Evening Photography Fine Art Print Limited Edition
Located in Slovak Republic, SK
Limited edition of 10, fine art print, signed by the author.
Color
#49, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
Clorofila Abstract Photography, Archival Pigment Print, 2010- Signed
Located in Miami, FL
Clorofila emerges from Eduardo Rezende’s Lavori in Corso series, where the overlooked materials of construction sites become portals into abstraction, emotion, and hidden beauty. Her...
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Archival Pigment
Concorde Hangar, Aerospatiale Concorde
Located in New York City, NY
27 x 44 in Edition of 9 EUR 3.500 35 x 57 in Edition of 9 EUR 5.500 48 x 71 in Edition of 9 EUR 7.100 Dye Sublimation on Aluminum 48 x 77 in Edition of 9 EUR 9.100 Dye Sublimation...
Dye Transfer
Black and White Photograph, Abstract, Geometric, Framed, 2020
Located in San Francisco, CA
This black and white abstract photograph is unique. Betsy Kenyon works in a darkroom with light and shapes. There is no negative, making each artwork one ...
Silver Gelatin, Photogram
#157, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#99, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
#66, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#148, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#79, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
#261 Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket ...
Pigment
Finding the Universe in Oaxaca, Orange and Yellow with Gray Arch
Located in San Francisco, CA
Gary Goldberg Finding the Universe in Oaxaca, Orange and Yellow with Gray Arch, 2018 Archival pigmented print 19 x 13 inches Edition of 10 Gary Goldberg has been photographing the u...
Archival Pigment
#167, Abstract, Photography, Painting, Expressionism
Located in München, BY
Unique piece More sizes and an Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket of realism to...
Pigment
$22,397
#102
Located in München, BY
Unique piece in this size signed on front An Essay from Lyle Rexer about this series on request. Joachim Schmeisser’s work rescues photography from the centuries-old straightjacket...
Pigment