1stDibs ExpertFebruary 21, 2024
The medium that Alice Neel used was painting. She was one of the 20th century's most influential American artists and a champion of social justice, which served as a lifelong inspiration for her portraits and figurative paintings. In 1938, she moved to Spanish Harlem in New York City, where she painted stark and honest still lifes and portraits of friends, family and neighbors. Neel continued to make representational work even as the art world in Manhattan became enveloped in trendy Abstract Expressionism. After her first solo exhibition in 1951, she was hailed as "a pioneer of socialist-realism in American painting." Explore a selection of Alice Neel art on 1stDibs.