Reflection Acrylic Romano
2010s Abstract Expressionist Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Expressionist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
People Also Browsed
2010s Contemporary Abstract Paintings
Linen, Acrylic
Artist Comments
Artist Morgan Fite offers an abstract depiction of how she visualizes the cycle of life. "Inspired by that 'life—death—life' cycle that we all go through, t...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Abstract Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Abstract Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century American Bohemian Paintings
Paint, Paper
2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings
Paper, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Abstract Paintings
Gouache, Archival Paper, Color Pencil
2010s Contemporary Abstract Paintings
Linen, Ink, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Geometric Abstract Paintings
Paper, Ink, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
Maggie LaPorte BanksMaggie LaPorte Banks, Pacific Pink, Abstract Art, Pink Painting, Green Art, 2022
2010s Contemporary Abstract Paintings
Gouache, Archival Paper, Color Pencil, Graphite
Late 20th Century American Post-Modern Paintings
Paint, Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Landscape Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Recent Sales
2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings
Acrylic
A Close Look at abstract Art
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.
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