Dripping, flinging, rolling, soaking—the Abstract Expressionists did everything academic tradition said not to do with paint.
1945 - 1980
videos + essays
We're adding new content all the time!
Low Water by Joan Mitchell
Joan Mitchell’s Low Water is an abstract oil painting featuring vibrant colors, dynamic brushwork and dripping fields of paint that draw you in both physically and emotionally. Watch Eric Crosby, Director at Carnegie Museum of Art, explore what makes this a masterpiece.
Mark Bradford on Clyfford Still
"To use the whole social fabric of our society as a point of departure for abstraction reanimates it, dusts it off."
The Case for Jackson Pollock
Pollock dripped, flung, scattered, and poured paint on canvases spread out on the floor—but why?
Mark Rothko, No. 210/No. 211 (Orange), 1960
Just because a painting isn’t full of angels doesn’t mean it isn’t spiritual and transcendent.
Willem de Kooning, Woman, I
De Kooning painted image after image on this canvas, continually wiping it down and starting again.
Lee Krasner, Untitled
Krasner severed the link between art and the everyday world, making important breakthroughs in abstraction.
Mark Rothko (at MoMA)
Rothko wanted his paintings hung as low as possible, so the viewer could enter the painting.
Restoring Rothko
What happens when a painting is vandalized? See how conservators at Tate leapt into action to save a painting.
The Painting Techniques of Barnett Newman
Newman called the lines in his paintings “zips.” Learn how they’re made and how they work.
Browse Smarthistory images for teaching & learning!
