Wooden Roll Calendar
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 2000s Abstract Abstract Paintings
Oil
People Also Browsed
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Wood Panel, Oil
Antique 17th Century Italian Baroque Bookcases
Spruce
Antique 1890s German Dinner Plates
Porcelain
Antique 19th Century French Porcelain
Porcelain
Antique 18th Century and Earlier Belgian Aubusson Tapestries
Wool, Silk
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Oil, Panel
Antique 1860s French Napoleon III Glass
Ormolu
Early 20th Century French Drawings
Paper
1920s Naturalistic Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1990s Surrealist Landscape Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Daniela AstoneCouple #4- 21st Century Contemporary Painting of a nude dancing male and female , 2023
1980s Pop Art Nude Photography
Silver Gelatin
Vintage 1950s American Art Deco Drawings
2010s Modern Nude Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal, Graphite, Paper
2010s American Realist Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Paintings
Paint
Recent Sales
2010s Abstract Abstract Sculptures
Ceramic, Stoneware, Birch
2010s Abstract Abstract Sculptures
Ceramic, Stoneware, Birch
2010s Abstract Abstract Sculptures
Ceramic, Stoneware, Birch
2010s Abstract Abstract Sculptures
Ceramic, Stoneware, Birch
2010s Abstract Abstract Sculptures
Ceramic, Stoneware, Birch
2010s Abstract Abstract Sculptures
Ceramic, Stoneware, Birch
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.
Find original abstract paintings, sculptures, prints and other art on 1stDibs.