abstract expressionism

American  

Sometimes Abstract Expressionism

noun

1. a movement in experimental, nonrepresentational painting originating in the U.S. in the 1940s, with sources in earlier movements, and embracing many individual styles marked in common by freedom of technique, a preference for dramatically large canvases, and a desire to give spontaneous expression to the unconscious.

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abstract expressionism British  

noun

1. a school of painting in New York in the 1940s that combined the spontaneity of expressionism with abstract forms in unpremeditated, apparently random, compositions See also action painting tachisme

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abstract expressionism Cultural  

1. A school of art that flourished primarily from the 1940s to the 1960s, noted for its large-scale, nonrepresentational works by artists such as Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko.

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Other Word Forms

• abstract expressionist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of abstract expressionism

An Americanism dating back to 1950–55

Example Sentences

Amid a cosmopolitan circle of teachers and students, he experimented with abstract expressionism, then in vogue, but didn’t take to it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026

From abstract expressionism to pop art, the collection at the museum serves as a time capsule of pivotal artistic movements.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2025

“She was influenced by abstract expressionism, and she was influenced by the people at the time who were also painting in the neo-expressionist movement,” Casselli said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2025

All the participants draw from cubism and abstract expressionism, but jumble such precedents in lively ways.

From Washington Post • Aug. 26, 2022

New approaches to the age-old medium of paint were celebrated during this time when abstract expressionism reigned.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 7, 2022