Abstract art is all about energy–exactly what we all need at the start of the year. The widely taught and accepted story up until very recently posited that Wassily Kandinksy “invented” abstract painting; his “Aquarelle Abstraite” has been canonized as the first ever created. Although it’s dated 1910, experts believe that it was actually painted in 1913 as a study for larger works and backdated by Kandinsky himself in order to prove that he was the pioneer (smart marketing!). Piet Mondrian, too, claimed to invent the form. He wrote extensively about abstraction as he explored it alongside fellow male artists Kandinsky, Frantisek Kupka, Robert Delaunay and Francis Picabia, all of whom began showing their new work across Europe in 1912.
What–or rather, who–none of the scholarship surrounding abstract art’s origin story took into account was Hilma af Klint. In 1906, af Klint developed and implemented a visual language of shapes, lines, spirals and color in her work that predates all of her male counterparts, earning her the title of the true mother of abstract painting.
Abstraction has, of course, spread across the globe and continues to be a powerful form of artistic expression utilized by artists and enjoyed by art lovers (like you!) today. At 20x200, we can’t get enough of it. From the soft, undulating ovular forms of Jeff Lewis to the textural, hard-edged paintings of Jennifer Sanchez and the raucous, lyrical marks of Kindah Khalidy, we’ve got abstract work that is sure to speak to your soul.
