What Is Abstract Expressionism? Pollock, Rothko and the New York School
2026-06-27
After World War II the centre of the art world jumped from Paris to New York, carried by Abstract Expressionism — the first American movement to lead the world.
Two temperaments, one movement
Action painting: Jackson Pollock laid canvas on the floor and dripped, flung and poured house paint in rhythmic skeins — the finished work records the dance of its own making. Every drip crosses every other; there is no top, bottom or centre.
Colour field: Mark Rothko stacked two or three soft-edged rectangles of glowing colour that hover and breathe. He meant them as tragic, spiritual experiences: stand close, let the colour surround you.
What unites them
Huge scale, no recognisable subject, and the conviction that paint itself — its energy or its glow — can carry raw emotion without depicting anything at all.
Quiz tells
All-over tangled drips → Pollock. Blurry stacked rectangles → Rothko. If it is abstract but geometric and hard-edged, look instead at Malevich or Mondrian.