Famous Abstract Paintings
If you’ve ever wanted to see a piece of art that doesn’t have any resemblance to reality, you should consider looking at famous abstract paintings. The following article will give you an overview of the most famous works of art by Wassily Kandinsky, Mark Rothko, and Hilma af Klint. You can even explore the lives of these artists and learn about the significance of their works.
Wassily Kandinsky
One of the pioneers of modern abstract art, Wassily Kandinsky was an innovative thinker who embraced the interplay between form, color, and sound in order to create an aesthetic sensation. He argued that total abstraction enabled artists to express their inner world without being restricted to copying nature. His vision of art developed through three stages. First, he began to experiment with realistic canvases, and later, he developed his style towards geometrical flat planes of color.
In Composition VI, Kandinsky wished to bring specific images to life. He wished to depict apocalypse by water, or baptism and rebirth. However, while painting, he hit a wall. To break out of this block, he repeated the German word uberflut a number of times, ignoring its meaning. This helped loosen his thoughts and the work took just three days to complete.
Several Circles is an oil on canvas painting by Wassily Kandinsky. The artist was fascinated by the shape of the circle and wanted to explore the various interpretative possibilities it offered. By adjusting the colors and scale of the circles, he achieved a harmonious composition that evokes a sense of spiritual harmony. Several Circles is a great example of this, and the artist aims to convey this to future generations.
Composition VII, the penultimate composition of Kandinsky’s life, represents the pinnacle of his pre-World War I career. The painting displays Kandinsky’s rejection of pictorial representation, combining elements of Constructivism, Suprematism, and the Bauhaus ethos. In Composition VII, Kandinsky emphasizes the importance of form and color in his non-representational approach.
The artist’s colorful palette and expressive brushwork provide hope to viewers. His vivid palette recalls Russian folk art and the vibrant colors dominate his non-objective and representational canvases. As he continued to refine his ideas about art, he further refined his style. His works continue to fascinate art fans today with their vibrancy and dynamism. In fact, Kandinsky’s works have become a classic in art history.
Wassily Kandinsky’s works are some of the most influential examples of abstract art. He was a pioneer of the avant-garde and a theorist. His paintings transcended the realm of material reality in order to express a human’s predicament through art. This is why he is considered one of the greatest avant-garde artists of all time. So, what are some of the most famous abstract paintings?
Wassily Kandinsky’s famous abstraction paintings are often a fascinating exploration of art history. The artist believed in the close relationship between music and vision, and many of his works were named after musical compositions. Even the most famous abstract painting of all time, Composition V, for example, still shows semblances of a figure, which Kandinsky said proves that there is a spectrum between figuration and abstraction.
Mark Rothko
The artist’s most iconic works are the colorful rectangles that make up his famous color field paintings. The stacks of colorful rectangles are a powerful expression of big emotions, and many people have interpreted these works as lunar and nighttime photographs. But these works are not his only iconic creations. His work has influenced art in popular culture, including the movies. Its subject matter is also quite varied, from popular culture to the art world itself.
In the 1930s, Rothko influenced the art movement known as Expressionism. He also sought inspiration in ancient Greek mythology and thought that tragedy is an essential part of the human experience. His abstract paintings, however, were often without titles; he simply referred to them as “Untitled” works. He began painting blocks of colour with no figures or obvious symbolism, which he referred to as “multiforms.”
Although the painting’s spectral qualities were not intended to appeal to the eyes, it did set auction records when it was sold at a Christie’s auction 42 years after the artist’s death. In fact, many of the pieces were so striking that they were not only a masterpiece in themselves, but also a testament to Rothko’s unique and powerful mind. He also incorporated other artistic styles into his career, spearheading the single-colour movement.
Born in Latvia, Rothko immigrated to the United States with his family in 1913. He enrolled at Yale University, but dropped out two years later. He found his place in New York City and began painting. During the early 1940s, Rothko began to paint biomorphic forms on colored grounds. He also became close with his professor, Max Weber. Despite the fact that he left school early, Rothko continued to paint and studied.
The Three Seasons series is another of Rothko’s famous abstract paintings. Painted between 1958 and 1959, it was commissioned by the Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building. The paintings were rectangular in shape and used deep maroon as a base color. He experimented with various shades of the color and ultimately decided to paint a black rectangle around two maroon boxes to form a window-like structure.
His private life was dominated by a sense of acute despair. It is likely that he suffered from a form of bipolar disorder. He married a jewelry designer, Edith Sachar, in 1932, but divorced her in 1945 and later married Mary Alice Beistel, with whom he had two daughters. His later works often resemble those of Still and Newman, but Rothko’s work demonstrates a markedly different temperament.
Although the Abstract Expressionist movement began in the early 1900s, Mark Rothko is perhaps the most enduring and influential of all. His evocative paintings were influenced by mythology and philosophy, and his style changed through the years. Ultimately, he sought to capture the essence of human emotion with his paintings. The artist’s style eventually developed into a more theoretical and dark style, which became known as Colorfield Painting.
Hilma af Klint
Af Klint was the first modern artist to use geometric shapes to convey her spiritual messages. She studied the spiritual life, and the resulting series of paintings focused on Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Her works are largely black and white, and her paintings contain spiritual messages as well. She credited the inspiration for her work to Theosophy. Some of her works are considered to be more abstract than others, but a careful examination of them reveals a more complex truth.
Hilma af Klint studied classical portraiture at the Technical School in Stockholm under the guidance of Kerstin Cardon. However, her true interests emerged in occult subjects. After her sister’s death, she took up seances to create dialogues with the spirit world. Eventually, she enrolled in the Royal Academy of Arts, Stockholm, and studied art there for five years.
While she was very influential in her time, she also had to endure the challenges of getting her work displayed. She had to wait 20 years after her death before her works could be displayed publicly. However, her works have recently received a major retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum. There are a number of exhibitions dedicated to her work, including one in the United States. It is also possible to view some of her paintings in a museum in your area.
Af Klint’s works have inspired modern artists throughout history. She was influenced by the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, who was an influential Austrian philosopher and pioneer in the field of spirituality. Despite Steiner’s disapproval of af Klint’s role as’medium’, he nevertheless admired her work and advised her to hide it for 50 years.
After the completion of her studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, Hilma af Klint continued to push the limits of abstract art by exploring themes, forms, and seriality. Though she was an accomplished artist, she did not exhibit her work often. Eventually, a retrospective of her works at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was held in 1986. The exhibition was the first to feature her paintings in person.
After a decade of isolation, her work began to become widely known. Her work influenced modern art and is now being shown in public collections across the globe. Hilma af Klint’s famous abstract paintings are truly magnificent. They reflect her spirituality and her connection to nature. She was also a mystic who was very sensitive to nature. Interestingly, her paintings were kept hidden for 20 years after her death, even after Kadinsky’s emergence as an important abstract artist.
The Moderna Museet has attempted to compile her extensive oeuvre into a single exhibition. The exhibition ranges from early academic paintings to monumental abstractions. In 1971, her great-nephew gave them to the museum. There has been debate about whether Hilma af Klint’s works are abstract or not, but the truth remains unknown. Regardless of whether you prefer a painting to an abstract one, it’s a wonderful addition to any collection.