Punk Picasso
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Spray Paint
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary More Art
Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Lithograph, Offset, Board
People Also Browsed
2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
Artist Comments
"Peg learns to fly!" exclaims artist Jaime Ellsworth about this whimsical horse with wings. Jaime often depicts her own animals in her work. Her paintings are...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Mixed Media
Mixed Media
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Outsider and Self Taught Art
Glass, Wood, Paper
1970s Outsider Art Still-life Prints
Screen
1990s Contemporary Abstract Prints
Monotype, Woodcut
Artist Comments
"Just off Brady Street, in Milwaukee’s East Side, there used to be a place with class and style," says artist Leroy Burt. The store was a treasure trove of vi...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Interior Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
1980s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Canvas, Pastel, Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Steven H. Rehfeld‘Young Woman And Vase’ Large Figurative Female Nude Model Grays B&W By Steven, 2015
2010s Realist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Outsider Art Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Paper, Charcoal, Pastel, Tea
Artist Comments
Artist Jessica JH Roller paints a playful portrait of a king toad surrounded by white daylilies. "He lives in a quaint cottage alone, but he has a human friend ...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Animal Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
Enamel
Artist Comments
Cheery smiles in white and gold saturate the space against a black background. One face has hearts as eyes, love among all the happy gestures. Part of a serie...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art More Art
Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Oil
Recent Sales
Late 20th Century Pop Art Portrait Prints
Archival Pigment
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Paint, Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic, Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Mixed Media, Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Paint, Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Paint
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Mixed Media
Canvas, Neon Light, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Street Art Abstract Paintings
21st Century and Contemporary Street Art Abstract Paintings
Acrylic Polymer, Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Street Art Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Acrylic, Newsprint
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Paint, Mixed Media
Punk Picasso For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Punk Picasso?
A Close Look at neo-expressionist Art
A resurgence of interest in Expressionism, Pop art, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and other movements gained steam among artists of the 1970s and ’80s, in part as a reaction to the austerity of the prevailing minimalism and Conceptual art of the era. A decadent, bold and brash art style called Neo-Expressionism saw painters returning to figural representation, creating highly textured works that were imbued with intensely personal narratives.
Neo-Expressionist paintings are sensuous in nature and highly subjective in meaning. Expressive brushwork, highly pigmented colors and layered forms and materials lent sculptural attributes to the work and were used to depict symbolic narratives from history, mythology and the artist’s personal experience.
Prominent figures such as Jean-Michel Basquiat led the Neo-Expressionist movement in the United States with paintings and prints that were raw, emotional and often violent in nature. In Germany, Die Neuen Wilden (the “New Fauves”) was the name given to a group of postwar artists that included the likes of sculptor Georg Baselitz and Gerhard Richter, a painter and photographer who explored the possibilities of both abstraction and realism, sometimes in a single piece. The work of the New Fauves — labeled as such for its return to Fauvism’s textured brushwork and use of vibrant colors — shares commonalities with Neo-Expressionism, and Baselitz was a pioneer of the movement in Europe. In addition, Willem de Kooning’s pulsating action paintings and Julian Schnabel’s experimentation with the materiality of paintings also took shape during this period.
“I was trying to make paintings different from the paintings that I saw a lot of at the time, which were mostly minimal, and they were highbrow and alienating, and I wanted to make very direct paintings that most people would feel the emotion behind when they saw them,” said Basquiat.
Neo-Expressionism generated some polarizing opinions, with some celebrating the revival of personal subjectivity in art while others criticizing the movement for being too commercially driven and nostalgic. But most experts agree that Neo-Expressionism was a huge commercial success and culturally impactful, paving the way for the postmodern work of artists like Richter and Sigmar Polke.
Find original Neo-Expressionist paintings, prints, mixed-media works and other art on 1stDibs.
Finding the Right figurative-paintings for You
Figurative art, as opposed to abstract art, retains features from the observable world in its representational depictions of subject matter. Most commonly, figurative paintings reference and explore the human body, but they can also include landscapes, architecture, plants and animals — all portrayed with realism.
While the oldest figurative art dates back tens of thousands of years to cave wall paintings, figurative works made from observation became especially prominent in the early Renaissance. Artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance masters created naturalistic representations of their subjects.
Pablo Picasso is lauded for laying the foundation for modern figurative art in the 1920s. Although abstracted, this work held a strong connection to representing people and other subjects. Other famous figurative artists include Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Figurative art in the 20th century would span such diverse genres as Expressionism, Pop art and Surrealism.
Today, a number of figural artists — such as Sedrick Huckaby, Daisy Patton and Eileen Cooper — are making art that uses the human body as its subject.
Because figurative art represents subjects from the real world, natural colors are common in these paintings. A piece of figurative art can be an exciting starting point for setting a tone and creating a color palette in a room.
Browse an extensive collection of figurative paintings on 1stDibs.