Best Abstract Expressionism
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Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) was an American painter and a key figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He is best known for his revolutionary drip technique, where he poured and flung paint onto canvas laid on the floor, creating dynamic and complex compositions. His work challenged traditiona...
Mark Rothko was an American painter whose work exemplifies color-field abstraction. He created large-scale paintings featuring layered rectangles of intense color, often described as meditative. His focus on evoking emotion through simple forms and saturated hues influenced generations of abstract e...
Willem de Kooning was a 20th-century American painter born in the Netherlands. He is recognized for his contributions to Abstract Expressionism and his dynamic use of gesture within figurative painting. De Kooning’s work, including the intensely debated “Woman I,” explores themes of form and movemen...
Rothkos work is a masterclass in controlled emotional overload. By reducing his canvases to vast, hovering rectangles of color, he forced the viewer into an intimate, almost spiritual confrontation. He rejected narrative and recognizable subject matter, demanding that the viewer engage with pure fee...
Number 31, 1950 is a large abstract painting by Jackson Pollock, held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Pollock made it by pouring, dripping, and flinging paint across a canvas placed on the floor, producing an all-over network without a conventional focal point. Its scale and layered traces...
Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) is a large 1950 painting by Jackson Pollock, held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Pollock worked with the canvas on the floor, applying lines and pools of diluted paint through pouring, dripping, and other direct gestures. Its interwoven black, white, brown,...
Lavender Mist, Number 1, 1950 is a large abstract painting by Jackson Pollock, held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Pollock laid the canvas on the floor and built its surface through poured, dripped, and spattered paint, leaving no conventional figure, horizon, or central focus. I...
Arshile Gorky (1897-1947) was an Armenian-American painter whose work significantly impacted 20th-century art. He created biomorphic abstractions characterized by flowing forms and vibrant colors, often drawing on Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist influences. His unique style explored themes of...
Richard Diebenkorn was a prominent 20th-century American painter known for his distinctive California landscapes. His Ocean Park series, developed starting in 1967, combines abstract expressionist techniques with observations of coastal scenes and architectural forms. These paintings are particularl...
Blue Poles, formally titled Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952, is a large abstract painting by Jackson Pollock. Its layered surface was made through poured, dripped, and applied paint, while eight strong blue diagonal forms create a repeated structure across the composition. The National Gallery of Austra...
Barnett Newman (1905-1970) was an American painter primarily associated with Color Field and minimalist art movements of the 20th century. He is recognized for his large-scale paintings featuring dark vertical “zips” overlaid on expanses of color, often red or orange. These works evoke a sense of sp...
Clyfford Still (1904-1980) was an American painter primarily associated with Abstract Expressionism. He created large-scale works featuring sharply defined blocks of color, a distinctive style that departed from traditional painting approaches. His significant contribution lies in his extensive arch...
White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) is a 1950 painting by Mark Rothko, produced during the development of his mature color-field style. Broad, softly edged areas of white, yellow, pink, and lavender appear against a rose-colored ground, emphasizing relationships among color, scale, and...
Joan Mitchell (1925-1992) was a prominent American painter associated with the abstract expressionist movement. Her work, frequently large scale and intensely gestural, translates landscapes and natural forms into dynamic compositions. Mitchell’s exploration of color and mark-making offers a distinc...
Helen Frankenthaler was a significant 20th-century American painter known for developing the “soak-stain” technique. This method involved diluting thinned acrylic paint and pouring it onto unstretched canvas, allowing the pigment to bleed and create layered abstract compositions. Her work exemplifie...
No. 61 (Rust and Blue) is a 1953 painting by Mark Rothko associated with Abstract Expressionism and color-field painting. Large rectangular zones of rust and blue hover within a darker field, with softened boundaries that make the colors appear layered rather than sharply divided. The work belongs t...
Franz Kline is a prominent figure of 20th-century American art. He created abstract expressionist paintings primarily using black and white pigments. His dynamic brushwork, often described as gestural, produced powerful compositions that are notable for their simplicity and impact. These works reson...
Orange and Yellow is a 1956 painting by Mark Rothko, executed during the period associated with his mature Color Field work. Broad, softly edged fields of orange and yellow appear to hover against a warm ground, with transitions created through layered color rather than conventional drawing or persp...
For abstract art with historical weight, 1stDibs is unparalleled. It specializes in high-end, vintage, and antique pieces, meaning you can find abstract works from the mid-20th century that have already been vetted by high-end dealers. If your interest leans toward the historical context of abstract...
Joan Mitchell's Two Sunflowers is an abstract diptych by the American Abstract Expressionist, reflecting her sustained dialogue with Van Gogh's sunflower imagery.
Robert Motherwell was a prominent 20th-century American painter associated with abstract expressionism. He is recognized for his intellectually driven collages, often incorporating found materials and historical imagery. His most significant work, the Elegy to the Spanish Republic series, comprises...
Lee Krasner was an American painter and a central figure in Abstract Expressionism whose work included gestural paintings, mosaics, drawings, and collages assembled from earlier compositions. She repeatedly revised her visual language rather than maintaining one signature format, moving between tigh...
Untitled (Black on Grey) refers to late abstract paintings by Mark Rothko in which a dark black field occupies the upper portion of the canvas above a grey field. Produced around 1969 and 1970, these works replace the luminous reds, oranges, and yellows associated with many of Rothko's earlier color...
Sam Francis was an American abstract expressionist painter renowned for his vibrant use of color and expansive, luminous compositions. After serving in World War II, he studied art in California and later spent significant time in Paris, where he was exposed to French modernism and the work of Claud...
"Adam" (1951) and "Eve" (1952) are two large-scale abstract expressionist paintings by American artist Barnett Newman. Created using oil on canvas, the works are characterized by Newman's signature "zip" technique, which involves vertical bands of color separating fields of flat paint. They are freq...
Adolph Gottlieb (1903–1974) was an American painter and a founding member of the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York. In the 1940s he developed his 'Pictograph' paintings, grid-like compositions containing archetypal symbols and mythological imagery drawn from diverse cultural sources. In th...
While not strictly an 'art marketplace' for fine art, ArtStation is the industry standard for digital concept artists. Many abstract digital works originate here. It's perfect for finding highly skilled digital abstracts, character studies, or sci-fi-inspired pieces that push the boundaries of digit...
David Park was an American painter and a central figure in the emergence of Bay Area Figurative painting during the 1950s. After working in abstraction, he returned to recognizable subjects, especially simplified human figures shown in interiors, streets, and aquatic settings, while retaining broad...
Grace Hartigan was an American painter and a prominent second-generation member of the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York. She was closely associated with the New York School and gained significant public exposure when her work was included in the Museum of Modern Art's New American Paintin...
Elmer Bischoff was an American painter and a foundational figure in the Bay Area Figurative Movement. Alongside Richard Diebenkorn and David Park, he shifted away from Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s to pursue a return to recognizable human figures and landscapes. His paintings are distinguished...
