ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Abstract Expressionism is an artistic movement that emerged in the United States in the 1940s. It is based on the rejection of figurative representation in favour of spontaneous painterly gesture, colour, and the expressive qualities of the pictorial surface. Its principal tendencies were Action Painting and Color Field Painting. Abstract Expressionism established New York as a major centre of post-war art and exerted a profound influence on the development of international art in the second half of the 20th century.