Abstract Interior Paintings
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.
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Linen, Spray Paint, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Varnish, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Spray Paint, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Adhesive, Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Varnish, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
Late 20th Century Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Linen, Spray Paint, Acrylic
Artist Comments
Artist Onelio Marrero shares about his recent visit to Boston. While there, he and his wife took in the many cultural and historic sights. One of the places they spent some time was at the Historic Boston Library where Onelio examined the Sargent murals. The series of murals known as "Triumph of Religion", depict Judeo-Christian themes. "I painted myself as the figure in the room with the blank panel that Sargent never completed. It was to be a scene depicting 'The Sermon on...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
In his distinct style of impressionism, artist Onelio Marrero displays a man in a suit reading the news as he sits by an empty dining hall. He bases the piece on sketches of a Back Bay, Boston restaurant named Bistro du Midi. He creates a narrative of an imaginary proprietor perusing a newspaper before the establishment opens and the clients fill the place. Onelio gives the viewer a sense of the décor and light streaming through the windows - beyond it, a hint of the Boston Public Garden.
About the Artist
Artist Onelio Marrero paints impressionist city scenes of everyday life. He captures the romanticism of New York City, from the picturesque fountains in Central Park to a glistening city street on a rainy afternoon. He creates a sense of nostalgia and intimacy with his work, offering the feeling that you have visited this particular scene before. “Each play of light, each texture, and each movement of a figure can have a captivating effect on me,†says Onelio. He studied at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art where he mastered discerning color and values, giving his work a more spontaneous appearance. Onelio’s work is an appreciation for beauty in all of its greatest forms; nature, art, and people.
Words that describe this painting: restaurant, newspaper, bistro, cafe, table, Boston, Public Garden, Boston Common...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Paper, Acrylic
1990s Abstract Interior Paintings
Mixed Media
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Spray Paint, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Spray Paint, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1960s Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Linen, Spray Paint, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Paper, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic
1980s Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Abstract Interior Paintings
Paper, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Spray Paint, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Spray Paint, Acrylic
Artist Comments
Artist Yangzi Xu depicts an iconic view of LaSalle Street in Chicago, facing south from the bridge. She rendered this piece in a warm muted palette, setting the stage to highlight sporadic lights and reflections on wet concrete. "My focus was to convey the mood and feeling a rainy day brings to my beloved city," shares Yangzi.
About the Artist
Artist Yangzi Xu captures a nostalgia for Chicago and its dramatic seasonal changes in her expressionist cityscapes. Having a full-time job and being a wife and mother, Yangzi makes a habit of painting everyday to keep her passion exciting and fresh. She keeps a queue of ideas and reference photos that she takes throughout the year. She looks through her references, tweaks and adds elements to them. Once inspiration strikes, Yangzi draws several sketches and begins to work with oils on canvas on multiple pieces at once - to keep each painting spontaneous and new. "I try to capture the paradox of life in the city, where one can be in a crowd and yet feel alone," Yangzi says. "My main intent is not to capture the physical reality of a scene, but to express my own moods and feelings to my audience." In her free time, Yangzi enjoys reading, with her current favorite genres being biographies and memoirs. Yangzi is an alumnus of DePaul University in Chicago.
Words that describe this painting: Chicago, La Salle...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic
Late 20th Century Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Varnish, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
Artist Comments
"The source of inspiration for this painting came as I was walking in Manhattan in the rain," says artist Onelio Marrero. "This street is based on 8th Avenue ...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Paper, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Paper, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
Artist Comments
Artist Faye Vander Veer depicts a cozy rainy evening in the city. "You can almost hear the sound of the tires as the traffic moves along the wet pavement," says Faye. Drizzly street scenes are among her favorite subjects to portray. She paints reflected headlights and other ambient lighting to give a feeling of warmth and calm.
About the Artist
Artist Faye Vander Veer seeks out moments with engaging narratives and captures them with an impressionist style. Her dramatic use of color, texture, light and shadow lend a glowing quality, creating an energy all their own. While using her own photographs as a general reference, it is her sensory memory of the event and her emotional reaction that is conveyed on the canvas, causing the viewer to be transported to another time and place. “Painting becomes a language I use to express my emotional response to what is before me and share my experience of the subject with others,“ says Faye.
Words that describe this painting: impressionism, cityscape, city, San Francisco, architecture, nocturne, rain, cars, pedestrians, buildings, lights, Mark League, street, road, facade, evening, cab, taxi, street light, oilpaint, reflection, travel, architecture, impressionism, travel, oil painting, blue
Evening Rain...
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Varnish, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Interior Paintings
Enamel
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Oil, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Linen, Spray Paint, Acrylic
2010s Abstract Interior Paintings
Canvas, Spray Paint, Acrylic




