Abstract Expressionism

Start with an overview

The Abstract Expressionism mind map is a useful starting point for the collection. It brings together Pollock, Rothko and Newman, with references to works including Mural and the Seagram Murals. It also includes the term action painting. This overview can help you see which names and ideas you want to follow through the other resources.

After that, the mind map Willem de Kooning offers a closer look at an artist. It organizes material under background, influences, themes, techniques and materials, and includes references to color field and action painting.

Look more closely at works and artists

Red On Maroon focuses on a work by Mark Rothko. Its branches cover scale, composition, color, form and space, as well as brushwork, texture and materials. It provides a way to organize observations about an individual work alongside the broader artist maps.

The page also lists two mind maps titled Jackson Pollock. Their excerpts point to different lines of study: one includes people, art terms and places, while the other refers to Carl Jung and the collective unconscious. The listings also include mind maps titled Helen Frankenthaler and Autumn Rhythm.

Use flashcards alongside the maps

The flashcard deck on Abstract Expressionism includes action painting, color field painting and Clement Greenberg. After looking at the overview map, use the cards to check which terms and names you remember, then return to the map to put them back in context. Another deck, High Modernist Painting and Post Painterly Abstraction, includes works by Hans Hofmann and Helen Frankenthaler.

There are no quizzes listed on this page, so the flashcards offer a way to check your recall instead. You can also use the maps to organize what you notice before looking through a deck.

Place the topic in the unit

Abstract Expressionism is one section of the Postwar Art unit in Art history. The page brings together broad overviews and resources centered on particular artists and works, giving you different ways into that section. Open a mind map and follow it with a flashcard deck.