Topic: Abstract Expressionism in New YorkDifficulty Level: ModerateSkill Level: Understand the ...

1 The Color Field painters created large, flat areas of color to produce more contemplative moods.
2 Rothko arranged rectangular shapes of color in a vertical format and often allowed them to bleed into one another. He thought of them as ideas uninterrupted by a recognizable subject.
3 Newman expressed humanity’s existential condition with, often, a single color that he called “zips.” He claimed his art was self-referential and that it presented focus. The single color presents an absolute state of sublime across a vast, heroic canvas.
4 Pollock focused on line and his own movements, while Color Field painters focused on achieving a transcendental state.