Juan Gris Guitar with Clarinet
Not that many people actually get what abstract oil paintings depict or are supposed to represent. The birth of abstract is actually seen as the breaking out of artists from the strict confines of classical art and is said to have been born in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Some of the more popular abstract artists that you might be familiar with emerged and made their mark in these eras and these artists spearheaded certain abstract styles that include cubism, expressionism, suprematism, fauvism and constructivism.
Some of the more popular artists that created abstract oil paintings canvas in the past did so to try and put more of themselves in their paintings. This art genre is also an outlet for painters who wanted to share more of their emotions and unique perceptions with the use of bold colors, exaggerations and distortions. In essence, these abstract oil paintings created by expressionists in the past focused more on what was being felt by a person rather than what a person sees in its physical form.
Abstract is often considered modern art and probably rightfully so since art pieces that follow along the lines of the many different abstract genres only started emerging in the late 19th century and more so in the following decades. Some of the more popular abstract art styles you will find being used by artists these days, and seem to have emerged in the early 1900s, include fauvism, cubism and later, futurism. Some of the more popular fathers of abstract oil paintings include Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Maurice de Vlaminck and Raoul Dufy, to name but a few. These artists introduced the world to abstract art that depicted landscapes and figures in wild and multi-colored works. These art works are considered the first pieces to be born in what is called Fauvism.
Wild brush work and vibrant colors are considered staple fare for Fauvism paintings. Although the movement called Fauvism only lasted a few years, the resulting art that emerged from such a movement has lived on to this day and the style is often copied by a number of new artists and even mixed with other styles to create unique abstract paintings. Some of the “Fauves” that started this style include Albert Marquet, Louis Valtat, Maurice Marinot, Henri Manguin and Jean Puy. The leaders of this movement were Andre Derain and Henri Matisse.
Cubism, on the other hand, is an abstract art style that was pioneered by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. It is also said that cubism also stemmed from the influences of Paul Gauguin and Paul Cezanne, two artists that seem to have had a huge influence on Picasso in his early years. The term “cubism” is said to have come from a French art critic who saw one of Braque’s paintings and described it as artwork that is full of little cubes. While both innovators of this art style did not readily accept the new term, it gained wide use among their followers and admirers. The popularity of abstract oil paintings that focused on cubism soon found its way across the Atlantic and landed in the US via the Armory Show in 1913 in New York.