Widely recognized as the first genuine American avant-garde, the Abstract Expressionists were heavily influenced by both a spirit of rugged individualism and the anxiety of a post-WWII world. War, fascism and political unrest in Europe brought many leading artists and thinkers to New York City during the 1930s, including powerhouses like Hans Hoffman, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Peggy Guggenheim, André Breton, and Piet Mondrian. With cultural epicenters like Paris and London in ruins after the war, New York City moved into the limelight as the new center of the art world, fortified by the establishment of The Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Non-Objective Painting (later known as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.) Through these institutions and others, a new artistic community was fostered, influenced by Surrealism and German Expressionism, as well as a new era of critics, writers, and theorists who championed various up-and-coming painters.

The automatism and subversion of Surrealism played a vital role in shaping the highly intuitive style of Abstract Expressionism, particular in reference to “action painting,” which challenged conventions of brush-to-canvas painting in both practice and theory. New York artist Jackson Pollock radicalized the process of gestural painting, removing the canvas from its historically upright position and onto the floor, where he worked from all sides, flinging paint and even tracking ash, dirt, cigarette butts and other studio debris into his massive compositions. One of his most iconic pieces, Number 1 (Lavender Mist) is an expansive frenzy of thrown paint—multilayered and awe-inspiring. Pollock began to gain recognition under the advocacy of iconic critic Clement Greenburg, whose particular tastes and penchant for Formalism defined an entire generation of American art. Color Field painters such as Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still were also supported by Greenburg, while Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline were lauded by Existentialist critic Harold Rosenberg. Other artists associated with the movement include Lee Krasner, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Philip Guston, all of whom developed unique and innovative styles of composition. While the movement came to an end during the 1960s, the legacy of Abstract Expressionism shines as one of the most iconic in the history of American modern art.