Famous Minimalist Art | Top 20 Masterpiece Artworks
Minimalist art, characterized by its simplicity of form and a deliberate lack of expressive content, has profoundly impacted the art world since its emergence in the 1960s. This movement emphasizes the beauty of purity and clarity, stripping away the superfluous to focus on the essence of the artwork.These works redefine the boundaries of artistic expression, inviting viewers to experience art in its most refined form.
What is Minimalism?
Minimalism is a unique type of art developed in the USA during the 1950s and is created using simple geometric shapes.
Why is minimalist art important?
Minimalism or minimalist art can be viewed as a movement to broaden the abstract thought that art should be clear and expressive in its style and meaning.
When did Minimalism start?
Minimalism developed in the late 1950s when artists, like Frank Stella, began displaying their artwork at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1959.
Minimalism grew during the 1960s and 1970s with Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, and Robert Morris who were significant trailblazers for the movement.
The development of minimalism is often connected to that of conceptual art (which also prospered during the 1960s and 1970s).
List of famous minimalist artworks:
- Die Fahne Hoch! by Frank Stella
- Yellow Piece by Ellsworth Kelly
- The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II by Frank Stella
- With my Back to the World by Agnes Martin
- Knot (Pink) by Brent Hallard
- Die by Tony
- SmithLever by Carl Andre
- Untitled (mirrored cubes) by Robert Morris
- Untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) by Dan Flavin
- White Cubes by Sol LeWitt
- Untitled by Donald Judd
- Rainbow Pickett by Judy Chicago
- Red Yellow Blue II by Ellsworth Kelly
- Gold Leaf (Friendship) by Agnes Martin
- Harran II by Frank Stella
- Pink out of a Corner by Dan Flavin
- Moondog by Tony Smith
- Center Blue by Mary Obering
- Wall Drawing #260 by Sol LeWitt
- Wandering Rocks (4/5) by Tony Smith
1. Die Fahne Hoch! by Frank Stella
Stella endeavored to develop imagery from his paintings, diminishing his compositions to geometric structures. He one of many painters who practiced both Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism.
His objective was to make paintings in which pictorial power originated from materiality things, not from their representation or symbolism.
"Die Fahne Hoch" was named after the official walking tune of the Nazis, yet seems, by all accounts, to be pointless except for its title.
Artist: Frank Stella
Completion:1959
Type: Enamel paint on canvas
Dimensions: 308.6 cm × 185.4 cm (121.5 in × 73.0 in)
Location: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
Famous Acrylic Artists & Paintings
2. Yellow Piece by Ellsworth Kelly
By molding the opposite ends of the canvas, Kelly recontextualized the canvas and created a minimalist design: Yellow Piece. The whole canvas was turned into a work of art.
Artist: Ellsworth Kelly
Completion: 1966
Type: Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Dimensions: 75 x 75 in
100 Most Famous Paintings In The World
3. The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II by Frank Stella
Stella utilized dark veneer paint and a house painting brush to make The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II. The thick dark lines are the same width as the paintbrush he used.
The slim white lines are not painted; they are holes between the dark band lines and at close range very obvious.
Stella painted the dark band lines parallel to one another and onto the edges of the canvas.
Artist: Frank Stella
Completion: 1959
Type: Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Dimensions: 230.5 x 337.2 cm
21st Century Surrealist Artists
4. With my Back to the World by Agnes Martin
These six paintings structure an arrangement that Martin considered a solitary element titled With My Back to the World.
The title epitomizes her perspective—that art sits outside of the considerations of the world and gives insight to her hermetic way of life.
Artist: Agnes Martin
Completion: 1997
Type: Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, six panels
Dimensions: 60 x 60" (152.5 x 152.5 cm)
Most Famous Paintings At The Louvre
5. Knot (Pink) by Brent Hallard
Hallard's work investigates geometric minimalism through monochromatic colors. He utilizes conventional art mediums, such as, markers and watercolors.
Artist: Brent Hallard
Completion: 2015
Type: Acrylic on anodized aluminum
Dimensions: 13.8 x 13.8 in
Famous Impressionist Artists And Their Work
6. Die by Tony Smith
Die weighs roughly 500 pounds. The structure welcomes the observer to stroll around it and experience it from different angles.
Artist: Tony Smith
Completion: 1962
Type: Steel
Dimensions: 6 x 6 x 6' (182.9 x 182.9 x 182.9 cm)
7. Lever by Carl Andre
Lever, is a line of 137 firebricks placed one after the other in a straight line of a black floor.
Artist: Carl Andre
Completion: 1962
Type: wood
Famous Artists Who Use Colored Pencils
8. Untitled (mirrored cubes) by Robert Morris
This gathering of four mirrored cubes outlines the artist's advancement as both a conceptual artist and a minimalist.
Artist: Robert Morris
Completion: 1965
Type: Mirror glass and wood
Dimensions: Each cube: 914 x 914 x 914 mm
Famous Acrylic Landscape Paintings
9. Untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) by Dan Flavin
Flavin uses basic rectangular shapes and characterizes spaces with hued light. The art that seems to attack the watcher's eyes to the work.
Artist: Dan Flavin
Completion: 1977
Type: Fluorescent light and metal fixtures
Dimensions: 96 x 96 x 10 in. (243.8 x 243.8 x 25.4 cm)
Romanticism Artists And Their Works
10. White Cubes by Sol LeWitt
This what LeWitt said about her cubes:
"The most interesting characteristic of the cube is that it is relatively uninteresting."
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Completion: 1974
Type: 122 Painted wooden structures and pencil on a painted wooden base
Dimensions: Structures: 2 5/8 x 2 5/8 x 2 5/8 “ each Base: 29 x 70 x 65”
11. Untitled by Donald Judd
Artist: Donald Judd
Completion: 1980
Type: Lacquer on galvanized iron
12. Rainbow Pickett by Judy Chicago
Made for her first solo show at the Rolf Nelson Gallery in Los Angeles in January 1966.
Rainbow Pickett is a sculptural artwork made out of six trapezoids of various colors and lengths.
This work has appeared for display as, 'Primary Structures' at the Jewish Museum, where pundit Clement Greenberg expressed that it was probably the best work in the space.
Artist: Judy Chicago
Completion: 1965
Type: Acrylic on canvas on plywood
Dimensions: 320 x 320 x 279.4 cm. (126 x 126 x 110 in.)
13. Red Yellow Blue II by Ellsworth Kelly
'Red Yellow Blue II' is actually made out of seven boards, with a dark board in the inside that joins the three boards.
Artist: Ellsworth Kelly
Completion: 1965
Type: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 82 × 189 in. (208.28 × 480.06 cm)
14. Gold Leaf (Friendship) by Agnes Martin
Artist: Agnes Martin
Completion: 1963
Type: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 6' 3" x 6' 3"
15. Harran II by Frank Stella
Stella's Harran II portrays various colors which are contained inside a progression of squares and curved triangles.
Artist: Agnes Martin
Completion: 1967
Type: Polymer and fluorescent polymer paint on canvas
Dimensions: 120 × 240 in
16. Pink out of a Corner by Dan Flavin
As its title proposes, pink out of a corner was created to be transparent and viewed from an angle.
Artist: Dan Flavin
Completion: 1963
Type: Fluorescent light and metal fixture
Dimensions: 8' x 6" x 5 3/8" (243.8 x 15.2 x 13.6 cm)
17. Moondog by Tony Smith
Moondog is shaped out of geometric modules—a mix of tetrahedrons and prolonged octahedrons, joined through their confronting planes.
Artist: Tony Smith
Completion: 1964 (fabricated 1998)
Type: Painted aluminum
Dimensions: 17' 1 1/4" x 15' 8 1/2" x 13' 7 1/4" (521.3 x 478.8 x 414.7 cm)
18. Center Blue by Mary Obering
Artist: Mary Obering
Completion: 1990
19. Wall Drawing #260 by Sol LeWitt
LeWitt's basic line drawings can be compared to the classical Italian fresco paintings except they're modern.
Artist: Sol LeWitt
Type: Crayon on painted wall
Characteristics Of Dadaism Art
20. Wandering Rocks (4/5) by Tony Smith
The piece is made out of 5 different cubic rocks. While these "rocks" are singular in component they were considered to have fixed spatial connections to one another.
Artist: Tony Smith
Completion: 1967
Type: Stainless steel, painted black
Dimensions: Five units, 23 to 45 1⁄2 in (58.4 to 115.6 cm) high
If you like this article, please share it with others, so perhaps they can also enjoy it. Any of the artwork purchased on ATX Fine Arts accommodates me as an artist/ writer along with helping the site grow organically, thank you.
