The world seems to have gravitated towards abstract art to a great degree in the recent years. Offices, homes, restaurants, almost everywhere you go, you will find abstract art paintings decorating the walls of many public and private domains. However, interestingly abstract expressionism or abstract art, as it is known, in the common parlance is relatively a new phenomenon.

Although abstract motifs and designs have been used in the textile and pottery industry for ages, abstract art was actually born in the 1940′s in America. In fact, Abstract Expressionism was perhaps one of the first painting movements to have originated in America. Probably, the freedom of expression associated with the country inspired the artists. Most of these paintings were about revolting and banishing age-old traditions and customs. Slowly, with time, this kind of work gained popularity, as it was the first time that art was more about the artist than the subject. These paintings, like many today, were vibrant with unconstrained strokes of the brush and quite individualistic in nature.

Such paintings did not follow any particular theme, pattern or design. To the untrained eye, they looked like a blend of casual movements and colors. However, the critics saw these works as unique pieces of art, each imbibing a part of the artist’s personality and temperament.  As a result, besides the masterpiece, much attention was also paid to the emotions and thoughts of the artist in each painting.

There are a number of famous artists known for their unique abstract expressionist works, these include Willem de Kooning, Barnett NewMan, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, Lee Krasner, Cy Twonbly, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock. Most of these artists focused on spontaneous expression and followed different techniques. These ranged from Jackson Pollock’s paintings that depicted action to Mark Tobey who was known for his “white writing” canvases.

Abstract art continues to evolve even today as artists discover new ways of expressing their emotions and thoughts on paper, as well as other mediums.