Like many major artistic shifts, Minimalism was conceived as a reaction to the movements that preceded it, mainly the visceral energy of Abstract Expressionism. Minimalists sought to create work based on the concept that art should not be representative of anything but itself. Removing metaphor, reference and expressive narrative from their work, Minimalists turned their focus onto the materials themselves, confronting their weight, substance, texture and construction. Geometric forms, industrial or readymade materials, and physically demanding structures were characteristic of the movement, which was inspired by Russian Constructivism, Dutch De Stijl painting and German Bauhaus. Young artists such as Donald Judd, Robert Morris and Dan Flavin were drawn to these Modernist movements, eventually abandoning painting in favor of unconventional installation-based works that utilized clean lines and modular forms.

Important works such as Tony Smith’s Die (1962), a six-foot cue of hot-rolled steel, and Flavin’s Untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) 3 (1977), which uses a grid of colored florescent tubes to shape the installation space, paved the way for new concepts of space and criticism. Many Minimalist artists were also actively engaged in theorizing these stylistic innovations, most notably Judd’s Specific Objects, published in 1965, which essentially laid out the proposed aesthetics of the Minimalism movement, despite his dismissal of the term.  Morris and artist Sol LeWitt also made major contributions to the written aspect of the movement—1966’s Notes on Sculptures and 1967’s Paragraphs on Conceptual Art, respectively. In 1966, the Jewish Museum opened the Primary Structures exhibition, which included works by Judd, Morris, Flavin, LeWitt, and Carl Andre as well as Ellsworth Kelly and Anthony Caro. The show established Minimalism as a major force within the art world and expanded the visibility of both Minimalism and Conceptual art. While the movement was referred to by many names throughout its time, "A.B.C. art," "Reductive Art," "literalism," "systemic painting," and "Art of the Real," Minimalism was accepted into the contemporary canon, re-defining the boundaries of traditional art making.