Famous Minimalist Art Top 20 Masterpiece Artworks

Famous Minimalist Art | Top 20 Masterpiece Artworks

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:

  1. Die Fahne Hoch! by Frank Stella
  2. Yellow Piece by Ellsworth Kelly
  3. The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II by Frank Stella
  4. With my Back to the World by Agnes Martin
  5. Knot (Pink) by Brent Hallard
  6. Die by Tony
  7. SmithLever by Carl Andre
  8. Untitled (mirrored cubes) by Robert Morris
  9. Untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) by Dan Flavin
  10. White Cubes by Sol LeWitt
  11. Untitled by Donald Judd
  12. Rainbow Pickett by Judy Chicago
  13. Red Yellow Blue II by Ellsworth Kelly
  14. Gold Leaf (Friendship) by Agnes Martin
  15. Harran II by Frank Stella
  16. Pink out of a Corner by Dan Flavin
  17. Moondog by Tony Smith
  18. Center Blue by Mary Obering
  19. Wall Drawing #260 by Sol LeWitt
  20. Wandering Rocks (4/5) by Tony Smith

 

Famous Minimalist Artworks

Die Fahne Hoch! by Frank Stella

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

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Yellow Piece by Ellsworth Kelly

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

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The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II by Frank Stella

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

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With my Back to the World by Agnes Martin

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)

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Knot (Pink) by Brent Hallard

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

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Die by Tony Smith

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)

Famous Abstract Paintings

 

Lever by Carl Andre

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

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Untitled (mirrored cubes) by Robert Morris

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

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Untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) by Dan Flavin

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)

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White Cubes by Sol LeWitt

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”

 

Untitled by Donald Judd

Untitled by Donald Judd

Artist: Donald Judd

Completion: 1980

Type: Lacquer on galvanized iron

 

Rainbow Pickett by Judy Chicago

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.)

 

Red Yellow Blue II by Ellsworth Kelly

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)

 

Gold Leaf (Friendship) by Agnes Martin

Gold Leaf (Friendship) by Agnes Martin

Artist: Agnes Martin

Completion: 1963

Type: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 6' 3" x 6' 3"

 

Harran II by Frank Stella

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

 

Pink out of a Corner by Dan Flavin

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)

 

Moondog by Tony Smith

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)

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Center Blue by Mary Obering

Center Blue by Mary Obering

 

Artist: Mary Obering

Completion: 1990

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Wall Drawing #260 by Sol LeWitt

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

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Wandering Rocks (4/5) by Tony Smith

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

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The Case for Minimalism

 

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