Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
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.
Late 19th Century Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Mixed Media
Late 20th Century Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Charcoal, Pastel
1960s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
1940s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
1950s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
1960s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
1950s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
India Ink, Handmade Paper
1980s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Mixed Media, Permanent Marker, Offset
1950s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Archival Paper, Pen
Mid-20th Century Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Crayon
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Pen
1950s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Gouache
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Canvas, India Ink
Early 2000s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Found Objects, Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Pen, Permanent Marker
1940s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Ink
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
1970s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Chalk
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor, Paper
1960s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Gouache
1970s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Pen
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Laid Paper, Wax Crayon
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Paper
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Paper
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Paper
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Pen, Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Watercolor
1960s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Ink
2010s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Watercolor, Handmade Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Watercolor
Late 20th Century Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Oil, Ink, Watercolor, Pen
1990s Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Handmade Paper
20th Century Abstract Animal Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor