Abstract artists have continually challenged artistic boundaries since the late 19th century. Art can be categorized in hundreds of different ways and yet still be classified as abstract art. This versatile genre, encompassing Abstract Expressionism, Lyrical Abstraction, Colour Field, Post-painterly Abstraction, and Minimalism, remains influential in contemporary art.
Abstraction has also heavily influenced contemporary art. It maintains a strong presence in fine art galleries and auction houses, reflecting its enduring appeal. Therefore, from the emergence of Abstraction-Création to today’s prominent abstract artists, the genre’s longevity is evident.
In this article, we’ve curated 15 artworks that have made significant impacts on abstract art.
21st Century Abstract Artists
Christine Ay Tjoe, Small Flies and Other Wings, 2013
Christine Ay Tjoe, Small Flies and Other Wings, 2013. Image courtesy of The Alternative Vision.
Christine Ay Tjoe is the most notable among Indonesian abstract artists. ‘Small Flies and Other Wings’ had a high estimate of $154,120. The work was featured at Phillip’s 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Evening Sale in 2017. It was then realized at over 700% of this estimate with a hammer price of $1.25 million.
One of Indonesia’s most prominent artists, Ay Tjoe’s works exude the traits of abstraction. This includes her internal world of thoughts, melancholy struggle, pain and happiness. This manifests through Tyjoe’s practice and onto her dynamic canvases.
Jasimen Phillips, Catch Me, 2019
At the intersection of Abstract Expressionism and Color-field painting lies Jasimen Phillip’s ‘Catch Me’. Phillips is celebrated for her multidisciplinary “word-art” technique with this being the most influential abstract work by an African American female artist of the 21st century. In this technique Phillips entangles oils and acrylics throughout her painting, and the materials are be layered onto her unprimed canvases. This mixed media collusion gives her works a sense of defiant presence.
Phillips encountered abstract expressionism while studying abroad in Germany in her gap year after high school and thereafter embodied a more freeform process with her art practice. Her abstract works, shifting and with a striking feel, propose powerful statements to its viewers. Her heavy impasto technique and incorporation of allusions to her African American heritage contrast that of the popular light pastel modern techniques and thus has influenced many abstract artists.
Collection of Artworks from Abstract Artists if You Like Jasimen Phillips
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1981
Jean-Michel Basquiat, widely regarded the most influential abstract artists of all time, revolutionized the art world with his raw energy, poignant symbolism, and profound social commentary. Through his unique blend of graffiti, street art, and neo-expressionism, Basquiat transcended cultural barriers, captivating audiences with his powerful visual narratives. His most famous painting, “Untitled (1981),” embodies his signature style, featuring a chaotic yet captivating composition of vibrant colors, enigmatic symbols, and bold brushstrokes. This masterpiece not only encapsulates Basquiat’s unparalleled talent but also serves as a timeless testament to his enduring impact on contemporary art and culture.
20st Century Abstract Artists
Wassily Kandinsky, Composition X, 1939
Wassily Kandinsky, Composition X, 1939. Image courtesy of wassilykandinsky.net
Considered an early leader of abstract painting, Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter and art theorist. His influence on the art world and on abstraction was immense. He co-founded the art group Phalanx and The New Group of Artists. Overall, he produced over 600 works over the span of his career. Notably, one of his paintings from 1913 set his record auction price at $41.6 million in 2017.
Despite this impressive record, his most significant work was arguably ‘Composition X’. Last in his lifelong series of ‘Compositions’, he sought to culminate his investigation into the purity of form and expression through this work. Having used the color black sparingly in his practice up to this point, it has been critiqued that this work is both evocative of the cosmos as well as the darkness of foreshadowing nearing the end of his life.
Collection of Artworks from Abstract Artists if You Like Wassily Kandinsky
Jackson Pollock, Convergence, 1952
Jackson Pollock, Convergence, 1952. Image courtesy of jackson-pollock.org.
Over the short 44 years of his life, Jackson Pollock painted an impressive 363 paintings. He is arguably the most famous of abstract artists from the 20th century, known for his drip techniques, and many of these dynamic paintings that he produced have made their mark on the art world and can be claimed as notable.
And yet, ‘Convergence’ finds itself rising to the top of the list. It exemplifies an important and innovative development in the history of painting due to its embodiment of free speech and freedom of expression. Pollock, through this painting, expressed thoughts of the threat of Communism and the cold war with Russia. It has been described as “everything that American stood for all wrapped up in a messy but deep package”.
In 1964 jigsaw puzzle company released ‘Convergence’ as a 340-piece puzzle, promoting it as “the world’s most difficult puzzle”. Thousands of Americans purchased this, further marking Pollock’s impact on the country.
Collection of Artworks from Abstract Artists if You Like Jackson Pollock
Mark Rothko, White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose), 1950
Mark Rothko, White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose), 1950. Image courtesy of the New York Times.
A household name to the world of abstract art, Mark Rothko’s produced many works that have achieved recognition. His mainstream fame and notoriety came stemmed from ‘White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) when it was sold in May 2007 by Sotheby’s on behalf of David Rockefeller to the Royal family of Qatar for $72.84 million. As a result, he set the record of the most expensive post-war work of art sold at auction.
1950 was the year that Rothko began dividing his canvases into horizontal bands of color, causing them to appear as if they were floating in front of the color field they were placed against. During this period, he successfully achieved through subtle variations a wide range of motions and moods, with ‘White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)’ exemplifying these ambitions.
Collection of Artworks from Abstract Artists if You Like Mark Rothko
Gerhard Richter, Abstract Painting 599, 1986
Gerhard Richter, Abstract Painting 599, 1986. Image courtesy of gerhard-richter.com.
Gerhard Richter is a multidisciplinary artist that has produced not only abstract art, but also photorealistic paintings, photographs, and glass works. Regarded as one of the most important contemporary German artists of our time, his works have also gone on to set several record prices at auction.
He began creating abstract paintings in the late 70s, stating them as “fictive models, because they make visible a reality that we can neither see nor describe, but whose existence we can postulate.” Whilst he made many of such paintings in his career, ’Abstract Painting 599’ is notable as it is one of Richter’s favorites. It later sold for $46 million dollars to an anonymous buyer in 2015, making it Richter’s most expensive painting thus far.
Collection of Artworks for Abstract Artists if You Like Gerhard Richter
Piet Mondrian, Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930
Piet Mondrian, Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930. Image courtesy of Google Arts & Culture.
Piet Mondrian’s ‘Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow’ marked a subtle turning point in his practice. Striving for complete abstraction, Mondrian believed in expressing universal purity through Neo-Plasticism. He aimed for balance in his works, meticulously analyzing color placement, shape size, and surface qualities to achieve a sense of stillness. This iconic painting has permeated pop culture, showcasing Mondrian’s mastery of balance through bold lines, contrasting colors, and simple shapes.
Joan Miro, Peinture (Etoile Bleue), 1927. Image courtesy of The Observer.
Although famously known as a surrealist artist, ‘Peinture (Etoile Bleue)’ was Miro’s transition between figurative and abstract art. In 2012, ‘Peinture (Etoile Bleue)’ led Sotheby’s Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art in London and fetched £23.5 million, setting a record for the artist and also making more than three times the price it achieved five years ago.
This painting is known to be one of the most important paintings in Miro’s career. Notably, the scorching blue used can be seen used in several of his future works and even went so far as to influence painters such as Mark Rothko and Yves Klein.
Collection of Artworks if You Like Joan Miró
Ben Nicholson OM, 1934 (Relief), 1934
Ben Nicholson OM, 1934 (Relief), 1934. Image courtesy of the Tate.
Motivated by the ways in which paintings can represent space, Ben Nicholson veered away from his figurative and abstract works inspired by Post-Impressionism and Cubism, proceeding to experiment and produce his abstract reliefs. These abstract geometric sculptural reliefs embodied a hand-made quality that Nicholson then painted white.
The importance of ‘1934 (Relief)’ comes from its influences, that being Piet Mondrian and the sculptor Barbara Hepworth (who was then his lover). The rapid transition from his prior abstract paintings towards these reliefs was probably accredited to meeting Mondrian the year before they were made, along with being heavily inspired by other abstractionists such as Joan Miro and Alexander Calder.
Cy Twombly, Leda and the Swan, 1962
Cy Twombly, Leda and the Swan, 1962. Image courtesy of Christie’s.
Unseen for over 30 years, ‘Leda and the Swan’ came to auction as the most anticipated picture of the season in 2017 and sold for more than $52 million. Deeply inspired during his time in Rome and with an overall affinity to events of classical antiquity, Cy Twombly created paintings associated with Roman mythology.
The title of this work points to the Roman myth where Jupiter having been transformed into a swan, attempts to seduce Leda who would later give birth to Helen of Troy. Instead of depicting the conventional female figure entangled with a swan (as has been executed by artists such as Leonardo and Michelangelo), Twombly armed himself with an arsenal of mixed media and thrashed around his canvas. Twombly embodies Jupiter here rather than depicts it, taking his practice out on the canvas to produce this wholly encapsulating work.
Famous Abstract Art in Asia
Zao Wou-Ki, Juin-Octobre 1985, 1985
Zao Wou-Ki, Juin-Octobre 1985, 1985. Image courtesy of The National.
One of the few Chinese artists whose career has risen to global levels, the last few decades have seen an insurgence of popularity for Zao Wou-Ki’s abstract works. At Sotheby’s Modern Art Evening Sale on 30 September 2018, Zao’s ‘Juin-Octobre 1985’ was estimated to sell for $45 million, and later exceeded this dramatically with a hammer down price of $65 million.
This monumental triptych was an extremely rare one having been commissioned by the celebrated architect I.M. Pei for Raffles City in Singapore. Both Zao and Pei were close friends and developed a friendship that would last for over 60 years. At Raffles Place, this painting was displayed alongside works by notable artists such as Ellsworth Kelly and Kenneth Nolan.
Hilma Af Klint, Altarpiece nº1-3, 1915
Hilma Af Klint, Altarpiece nº1-3, 1915. Image courtesy of the Guggenheim.
Hailing from Sweden, Hilma Af Klint never showed her work to her contemporaries and even asked that they be kept secret for years after her death. As a result, she was not known as an abstract artist during her time. But she is now, alongside other pioneering abstract artists such as Wassily Kandinsky. Over her years as an artist, Af Klint produced more than 1200 paintings along with 150 notebooks with her thoughts and studies into abstraction, the spiritual, and her philosophical ideas.
The Altarpiece series were the final pieces for the Paintings of the Temple. Inline with themes of spirituality in her practice, these works are like diagrams, representing Af Klint’s interpretations of an unseen world. Af Klint’s retrospective was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York from 2018 to 2019. It highlighted this series along with her body of work from 1906 to 1920.
While not everyone can own the most famous abstract paintings of the century, we definitely have the artworks from the finest contemporary artists just for you.