Abstract Nude Paintings
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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1970s Abstract Nude Paintings
Acrylic, Masonite, Mixed Media
Late 20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic, Gouache
Mid-20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
More and more I love to experiment with abstraction. It's amazing how realism with some abstraction somehow looks more true than when rendered using just real...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
A woman sits in a relaxed pose, her figure creating an asymmetrical form. Powerful contrasts and bold colors envelop her, with paint drips and loose brushstroke...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Nude Paintings
Acrylic
1980s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Encaustic, Gouache, Charcoal
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1970s Abstract Nude Paintings
Paper, Oil
1960s Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Watercolor
1970s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil, Paper
1950s Abstract Nude Paintings
India Ink, Gouache
1980s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Mid-20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Gouache, Paper
1970s Abstract Nude Paintings
Acrylic, Paper
1990s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1970s Abstract Nude Paintings
Acrylic, Paper
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1970s Abstract Nude Paintings
Charcoal, Paper, Watercolor
1970s Abstract Nude Paintings
Charcoal, Paper, Watercolor
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Laid Paper, Canvas
1970s Abstract Nude Paintings
Acrylic, Paper
1970s Abstract Nude Paintings
Acrylic, Paper
1970s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil, Illustration Board, Felt Pen
Early 2000s Abstract Nude Paintings
Cardboard, Mixed Media
20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, India Ink, Acrylic
Late 20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Pastel, Paper
1990s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil, Paper
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil
1960s Abstract Nude Paintings
Ink
20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Watercolor, Crayon
20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil Pastel
20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Wood
1980s Abstract Nude Paintings
Magazine Paper, Acrylic
20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil Pastel
1980s Abstract Nude Paintings
Acrylic, Magazine Paper
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
20th Century Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Acrylic
1920s Abstract Nude Paintings
Paper, Carbon Pencil
1960s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Early 2000s Abstract Nude Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil
1950s Abstract Nude Paintings
Oil, Illustration Board