Abstract Expressionism - the history of the art movement, Pollock, Rothko, and the breakthrough of American painting

Abstract expressionism is the art movement that, after World War II, shifted the center of gravity of modern art from Paris to New York and made American painting a world leader for the first time. During the 1940s and 1950s, a group of painters gathered in New York around a new idea: that a painting did not need to depict anything at all to be charged with emotion, drama, and spirituality. Instead, the act of painting itself - the gesture, the color, the physical action - would carry the entire meaning of the work. Names such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning became emblems of an art that was both grand and deeply personal.

The movement is usually divided into two main strands. One is the gestural strand, often called action painting, in which paint is flung, dripped, and dragged across the canvas in a visible record of the body's movement. The other is color field painting, in which large, meditative fields of color float toward the viewer and seek the exalted and infinite. Despite their differences, the artists shared one ambition: to create a modern, almost mythical art for an era marked by the shadow of war and the uncertainty of the atomic age. This page explores the movement's history, its most important works and artists, the technique behind it, the legacy it left, and how you can use abstract art in the home today.

Contents
↓ What is abstract expressionism?
↓ The movement's emergence and historical background
↓ Key works and artists
↓ Technique, style, and artistic signature
↓ Cultural influence and legacy
↓ Abstract expressionism in the home
↓ Timeline
↓ Related art movements
↓ Frequently asked questions

What is abstract expressionism?

Abstract expressionism is a collective term for the abstract painting developed by a group of American artists in New York in the late 1940s and 1950s. The expression was first used in reference to American art by critic Robert Coates in The New Yorker in 1946. The group of artists associated with the movement is often called the New York School and includes, among others, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Robert Motherwell, and Lee Krasner.

The core of the movement is that abstract expression takes precedence over representation. The artists drew inspiration from surrealism's idea that art should spring from the unconscious, but left dream imagery behind in favor of pure form, color, and gesture. Critic Harold Rosenberg coined the term action painting in his 1952 essay “The American Action Painters” in ARTnews magazine and described the canvas as an arena in which the artist acts rather than represents. At the same time, Clement Greenberg formulated the case for purely abstract art and highlighted color field painting as the logical next step in painting. The Museum of Modern Art in New York, led by Alfred Barr and curator Dorothy Miller, became the institution that defined and disseminated the movement internationally.

Quick facts: Emergence: New York, approximately 1943–1965. The term was first used for American art by Robert Coates in The New Yorker in 1946. Two main tendencies: action painting and color field painting. The term action painting was coined by critic Harold Rosenberg in 1952. Key artists: Pollock, Rothko, de Kooning, Newman, Still, Kline, Krasner. Pollock’s drip technique broke through in 1947. Willem de Kooning’s “Interchange” (1955) was sold privately for approximately 300 million dollars in 2015 - one of the world’s most expensive works of art. Moderna Museet in Stockholm presented the exhibition “Explosion! Painting as Action” from 2 June to 9 September 2012.

The movement’s emergence and historical background

Abstract expressionism was born out of a particular historical situation. During the 1930s, many American artists made a living through the government support program under the New Deal, which gave an entire generation the opportunity to work despite the economic crisis of the Depression. When World War II broke out, a number of European modernists also fled to New York, including Surrealists such as André Breton and Max Ernst. The meeting between the American experience and the European avant-garde tradition proved decisive. New York gradually took over the role of the capital of the art world that Paris had previously held.

From Surrealism to abstraction

The young New York painters were fascinated by the Surrealists’ automatism - the idea of allowing the hand to move freely without conscious control in order to reach the subconscious. Arshile Gorky became a bridge between European Surrealism and the new American abstraction with his fluid, biomorphic forms. Pollock, Rothko, and the others took the method further but abandoned recognizable motifs entirely. What remained was an art in which the creative process itself was the subject, and in which personal expression outweighed every rule of composition and perspective.

Many of the artists also drew nourishment from myths, ancient symbols, and the collective unconscious, inspired by the ideas of psychologist Carl Jung. In the early 1940s, Rothko and Gottlieb painted works with titles alluding to Greek mythology before gradually abstracting away all figurative elements. Their ambition was to reach a universal, timeless visual world that spoke directly to the viewer’s innermost self, beyond nation, era, and language. This pursuit of the universally human distinguishes abstract expressionism from purely formalist abstraction and explains why the works are often experienced as charged with seriousness and spirituality.

The Cold War and American Prestige

The movement’s breakthrough coincided with the Cold War, and the art acquired an unexpected political charge. Free, individualistic American painting was presented as a counterpoint to the state-directed socialist realism of the Soviet Union. The Museum of Modern Art helped spread the movement through international touring exhibitions during the 1950s, and abstract expressionism became a cultural calling card for postwar America. The fact that what had previously been a provincial American art scene now set the agenda for painting across the entire Western world was a historic turning point that was cemented by the end of the decade.

Key Works and Artists

Abstract expressionism encompasses several very different artistic careers, but a few works and names have become the movement’s public faces. Together, they show how broad its range was – from Pollock’s explosive canvases to Rothko’s quiet color fields. What the greatest works have in common is that they can rarely be experienced in a reproduction in the same way as in reality: the size, surface, and depth of the color are part of the experience. That is also why they are often described as art one must stand in front of, rather than simply view from a distance.

Jackson Pollock and Drip Painting

Jackson Pollock is the movement’s most iconic name. His breakthrough came in 1947, when he laid the canvas on the floor and began dripping, pouring, and flinging industrial paint over it from every direction. The result was dense webs of lines without a focal point, where the eye is never allowed to rest in a single place. “Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)” from 1950 is considered one of his greatest works and is now part of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Pollock’s wife, the artist Lee Krasner, played a central role in shaping his artistic career after the couple married in 1945 and moved to Springs on Long Island. The critic Clement Greenberg hailed Pollock early on as the greatest painter the country had produced.

Pollock’s largest canvases measure several meters in width and were created in a converted barn in Springs, where he could move freely around the material. Despite the spontaneous impression, the work was carefully controlled; Pollock himself said that he could direct the flow and deny chance. His career was short but intense, and he died in a car accident in 1956, at just 44 years old, helping to cement the myth of the American artist as a restless, romantic figure.

“When I am in my painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through.” – Jackson Pollock

Mark Rothko and the Stillness of Color Fields

Where Pollock was explosive, Mark Rothko was meditative. His mature works consist of two or three softly edged rectangles of color that float one above another on a large canvas. Rothko wanted viewers to stand close to the works and almost be enveloped by them, and he spoke of painting fundamental human emotions such as tragedy, ecstasy and doom. The color field painting he developed together with Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still sought the sublime and infinite rather than the gesture. The market later confirmed his standing: the work “Orange, Red, Yellow” (1961) was sold at Christie's for 86.9 million dollars in 2012. You can read more on our in-depth page about Mark Rothko and color field painting.

Willem de Kooning, Newman and Kline

Willem de Kooning combined abstraction with traces of the human figure, most clearly in his controversial “Woman” series from the early 1950s. His painting always retained a physical, almost brutal brushwork. De Kooning's standing in the art market is staggering: the painting “Interchange” (1955) changed hands in a private sale in 2015 for around 300 million dollars, at the time one of the most expensive paintings ever sold. Barnett Newman contributed his “zip” - a narrow, vertical band of color that divides the large field and creates space. Franz Kline instead reduced his visual language to powerful black brushstrokes against a white background, enlarging calligraphic gestures. Together, they show how broad the movement's range was within the framework of pure abstraction.

Technique, style and artistic signature

What unites abstract expressionism is not a shared appearance but a shared attitude: that painting should be a direct, unmediated action. Even so, clear technical features can be distinguished that set the movement's two branches apart. One recurring approach is the very large canvas, which envelops the viewer instead of hanging like a window on the wall. Another is the so-called allover composition, in which the picture surface is treated evenly from edge to edge without a clear center or hierarchy. Many artists also abandoned the easel and worked directly on the floor or wall, blurring the boundary between painting and physical action.

Action painting and the visible gesture

In action painting, the physical movement is the artwork itself. Pollock worked around the canvas on the floor and let the paint fall in drops and threads, a technique that turned the whole body into a painting tool. Franz Kline and the early de Kooning, by contrast, worked with broad, rapid brushstrokes in which every movement remained visible in the finished work. What they have in common is that the process is never concealed - the viewer can see exactly how the paint ended up where it did and can almost follow the artist's arm afterward. The often enormous size of the canvases reinforced the sense that one was encountering an action rather than an image.

Color Field Painting and the Sublime

Color Field painting is the opposite of gesture. Here, brushstrokes are deliberately blurred in favor of large, even fields in which color itself becomes the subject. Rothko built up his surfaces in thin, translucent layers so that the color seems to glow from within. Barnett Newman allowed a single vertical band to break up an otherwise monochromatic field, while Clyfford Still tore into his surfaces in jagged, map-like sections. Rothko rarely varnished his works and avoided glossy surfaces, precisely so that the color could breathe and seem to come from within the canvas rather than lie on top of it. The aim was not drama in the brushwork but a quiet, almost reverent experience. Size also played a decisive role here: the fields were meant to be so large that they enveloped the viewer and created a space to step into.

Cultural Influence and Legacy

Abstract Expressionism changed not only painting but the entire understanding of what art could be. By making the act itself and the material part of the content, the movement paved the way for a range of later directions and permanently shifted the center of gravity of the art world across the Atlantic. The idea that an artist’s personal gesture could constitute the work’s entire content became a liberating force for generations that followed, and the notion that scale and presence are expressive means in themselves lives on in contemporary art. The movement’s artists also showed that an abstract image could carry as much gravity and emotion as the most dramatic history painting.

The Path to Minimalism and Later Art

As early as the 1960s, a younger generation reacted against the heated, personal expression. However, the large, pure surfaces of Color Field painting pointed directly toward Minimalism, which took reduction even further. At the same time, the idea in action painting of art as a process inspired the early happenings and performance art. Pop art’s criticism of solemn abstract painting was also a direct reaction to the dominance of Abstract Expressionism. You can follow that thread further on our page about minimalism.

The Movement in the Nordic Countries and Sweden

Abstract Expressionism also reached the Nordic countries. In Sweden, it is closely associated with Moderna Museet in Stockholm, which in 2012 presented the acclaimed exhibition “Explosion! Painting as Action” featuring around fifty artists, including Jackson Pollock and the Japanese Gutai group. The museum also owns works by the Swedish Abstract Expressionist Britta Ringvall, linking the movement to Swedish art history. Gestural, spontaneous painting also found Swedish followers within what is sometimes called informal art, and the movement’s ideas still influence how abstract art is understood in Scandinavian collections and homes today.

The connection to the Nordic region can also be understood through the Scandinavian preference for purity, light and pared-back form. The muted, meditative surfaces of colour field painting harmonise well with the Nordic aesthetic’s pursuit of calm and balance, which may explain why Rothko’s expression has become so popular in Swedish homes. The contemporary Swedish art scene has continued to cultivate the abstract heritage, and the movement’s emphasis on material and gesture can be recognised in much of the painting exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country today.

Abstract expressionism at home

Few art movements work as well on the wall in a modern home as abstract expressionism. Precisely because the works do not depict anything specific, they suit rooms with a variety of styles, and a single large abstract painting can give an entire room a clear artistic direction. A poster inspired by colour field painting, with calm fields in muted tones, creates a peaceful impression in bedrooms and living rooms, while a more gestural design with visible brushstrokes adds energy to a hallway or home office.

One important advantage of abstract art is that it lets the eye rest and the mind wander. Unlike a clearly figurative subject, an abstract work does not tie the viewer to a specific story, but invites personal interpretations that change over time. This makes the movement’s expression especially well suited to rooms where people spend a lot of time, such as living rooms and bedrooms. A subdued composition in grey, ochre and deep red conveys timeless elegance, while a work with clear, saturated colours can become the detail that lifts an otherwise neutrally decorated room. Feel free to combine it with natural materials such as wood, linen and ceramics to balance the abstract expression with something earthy and tactile.

Consider the scale. Abstract expressionism was about size, and the same principle applies at home: a generously sized poster in a 50x70 or 70x100 centimetre format does more justice to the expression than several small pieces. If you want to work with colour, you can start with one of the work’s tones and let textiles or details pick it up. At Bozetto, you’ll find a wide selection of abstract posters, colourful designs in our colour bomb collection, as well as calmer expressions among our minimalist posters. For those who want a clear connection to the movement, we also have a dedicated collection featuring Mark Rothko designs.

Tip: Let a large abstract poster hang alone on an open wall instead of crowding it into a gallery wall. The movement’s works are made to envelop the viewer, and they are best appreciated with plenty of space around them. Choose a simple oak wood frame or a slim black frame so that the color and gesture can speak for themselves.

If you want to explore how abstract art works on the wall, you can read our guide to abstract posters, our guide to minimalist posters, and our article about wall art.

Timeline

Abstract Expressionism emerged over roughly two decades. This timeline highlights the key milestones from the movement’s roots to its later aftermath.

1935–1943: American artists are supported through the New Deal’s art programs, while European Surrealists flee to New York during the war. The foundation for a new American abstraction is laid.
1943: Arshile Gorky develops his biomorphic, semi-abstract visual language and becomes a bridge between European Surrealism and American abstraction.
1946: Critic Robert Coates uses the term Abstract Expressionism to describe American art in The New Yorker.
1947: Jackson Pollock breaks through with his drip and pour technique and lays the canvas on the floor.
1950: Pollock paints “Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)”, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
1952: Harold Rosenberg coins the term action painting in ARTnews magazine.
1955: Willem de Kooning paints “Interchange”, which is privately sold for around 300 million dollars in 2015.
1958–1959: The Museum of Modern Art spreads the movement through international traveling exhibitions during the Cold War.
1960s: Minimalism and Pop Art react against the movement, while Color Field painting continues.
2012: Moderna Museet in Stockholm presents “Explosion! Painting as Action” featuring Pollock and the Gutai group.

Related art movements

Abstract expressionism is closely connected with several other movements. The movement grew out of early abstract art, whose pioneers Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint had already liberated painting from subject matter decades earlier. Read more about Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint, who is often considered one of abstraction’s true pioneers. A dedicated exploration of the movement’s best-known name can be found on the page about Jackson Pollock and drip painting. A parallel European voice during the same postwar years was the Cobra movement, the Danish-Belgian-Dutch group that between 1948 and 1951 developed painting that was just as spontaneous and gestural as that of its American contemporaries.

The movement’s method built on Surrealism’s ideas about the unconscious, while its large expanses of pure color pointed toward Minimalism. You can find a comprehensive overview of all art movements and artists in our Knowledge Base, where abstract expressionism is placed in its broader context. To gain a deeper understanding of the historical context, you can also explore Wikipedia’s article on abstract expressionism and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s essay on the movement.

Frequently asked questions about abstract expressionism

Want to bring the feeling of movement into your home? Explore our full range of abstract posters and find a design that gives your wall the same energy and calm that the masters once sought.