4 important abstract expressionism works

Among the main works of abstract expressionism stand out “Number 5, 1948” by Jackson Pollock, "Woman II" by Willem de Kooning, ""Number 1. Royal red and blue" by Mark Rothko and "Elegy to the Spanish Republic" by Robert Motherwell.

He abstract expressionism is an artistic movement focused on the emotional and subjective expression of the artist through non-figurative shapes and colors. This movement originated in the United States after World War II, between the 40s and 50s of the 20th century, and is commonly regarded as the first American art movement with a notable impact on the art scene international.

In this lesson of unPROFESOR.com we tell you What are the most outstanding works of abstract expressionism so that you can distinguish their characteristics and meet the most representative painters of the movement.

Index

1. abstract expressionism
2. Number 5, 1948 - by Pollock
3. Woman I - de Kooning
4. Number 1. Royal red and blue - by Rothko
5. Elegy of the Spanish Republic - from Motherwell

He abstract expressionism is an artistic movement values ​​creative freedom as one of its fundamental pillars. Abstract Expressionist artists are inspired by their own existence and experience, being influenced by psychoanalysis and theories about collective unconscious. They are humanists and cosmopolitans, seeking to reflect their interior and reality through color, leaving shape and drawing aside.

Unlike the European avant-garde, the abstract expressionists they did not create manifestos, and his ideology is related to philosophical tendencies such as Existentialism and Phenomenology. Artistic creation is carried out automatically and without filters, allowing the artist's unconscious to communicate directly with the viewer.

Painting is the main art form in abstract expressionism, and the creation of it is considered a unique and singular rite that speaks of the author and the unconscious of him. Artists seek to let the unconscious out and let it flow naturally, sometimes resorting to alcohol and drugs to achieve this.

The movement conceives of artists as a kind of demiurge capable of manifesting his unconscious. The essence of the work resides in the act of painting, since it represents the very essence of the painter. In this other lesson we offer you the characteristics of abstract expressionism.

Number 5 Pollock's is one of the main works of abstract expressionism. It is considered as a authentic icon of abstract expressionism and one of the most influential both for the development of the movement itself and for the rest of the postmodern vanguards.

Number 5, 1948 is the best example of the style and technique created by Pollock, he drip painting or drip. The artist made this work on a large surface, proceeding to splash the surface with enamel and oil paint with brushes, branches and basting syringes. The result is a dynamic and energetic composition. The artist began experimenting with this technique known as dripping in 1947, the best result of this work being "Number 5" and becoming one of his characteristic stamps.

We are before a representative work of the abstract actionism. A current is led by Pollock and in which, as we can see in this painting, gestural and expressive brushstrokes and the dramatic tension typical of abstract expressionism abound.

Discover the most important works of Jackson Pollock.

Kooning, like Franz Kline and Jackson Pollock, constitutes one of the great names of Action Painting.

Woman is a series of six numbered paintings and dedicated by the artist to women, one of the recurring themes in his artistic career. “Woman I” shows us a picture of a powerful and threatening woman. An image built from several layers of paint that the painter then scratched to paste again, trying to give us some disturbing sensations.

It is believed that behind Kooning's work there is a certain misogyny, although the author confessed that he made them under the influence of the Mesopotamian statuettes exhibited at the MOMA in New York.

The drama, the grotesque and the strength and intensity of the brushstrokes are also characteristics of the abstract actionism, current to which Kooning was also attached.

This is one of the Rothko's most characteristic works. A painting in which the artist juxtaposes large fields of color that are simple in appearance and created by means of vibrant color layer overlay with the aim of creating a sensation of depth and emotion. In this work, Rothko shows us the relationship between warm and cold colors and creates a visual tension and a sensation of space that awakens a feeling of melancholy.

This work is representative of the Color-field painting current, a current that has Mark Rothko as the most prominent figure. Among the characteristics that fit it into this current are the large dimensions of the painting (1.72x2.89) and the organization of the composition in large fields of flat and uniform colors. A painting that awakens in the viewer an emotional response of sadness or nostalgia by combining colors and shapes. In 2012, this Rothko work sold for $75.1 million at Sotheby's auction.

Here we leave you the most important works of Mark Rothko.

Another of the most outstanding works of abstract expressionism is this "Elegy of the Spanish Republic". A painting belonging to a series of elegies, more than 100, in which Motherwell he used automatism, Surrealist technique in which the artist let out what resided in the subconscious automatically.

Thus, shapes and colors emerge from the painter's palette on large canvases. In this work, Motherwell represents geometric forms, almost calligraphy, in which depicts death and its interrelationship with life, being a kind of funeral song for the people who died in a fratricidal conflict impossible to forget.

The automatist brushstroke is full of emotion, intensifying the rhythm and color, also maintaining a certain restraint to impress the drama on the work. This Elegy is one of more than 100 paintings made by Motherwell between 1948 and 1967.

A collection that the author considered to be like a lament after the Civil War. The motif used to convey that pain is a roughly shaped black oval that is repeated in various sizes and subjected to different distortions. More than holes, these spots seem to become a deep space that absorbs all the light by standing out against a background of uniform white rectangles. Motherwell noted that these ovals were the testicles of a dead bull in a Spanish bullring.

If you want to read more articles similar to Works of abstract expressionism, we recommend that you enter our category of History.

• CASTELLANOS, Polo. Abstract Expressionism: Typically North American. Archipelago. Cultural magazine of our America, 2009, vol. 17, not 64.
• CIRLOT, Juan-Eduardo, et al. American Abstract Expressionism and "Action Painting". Architecture notebooks, 1964, p. 2-4.
• TASTE-BEJARANO, Andrés. Pollock, master of abstract expressionism. Academic Record, 2004, vol. 35, not November.