action painting
Spontaneous canvas splattering
Action painting is a style of abstract expressionism emphasizing the physical act of applying paint—dripping, splashing, or gestural brushwork—over deliberate composition.
The canvas becomes a record of the painter's movements and energy.
Jackson Pollock's drip paintings are the most famous examples.
The museum's collection includes several works of action painting from the 1950s.
Spontaneous, unplanned creation
- spontaneityActing without forethought
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
- unconsciousNot awake or aware
- automatismInvoluntary mechanical behavior
chance · rhythm · energy · physicality · dance · performance · arena · unplanned
Liquid falling slowly
- splatterScatter in drops
- gestureCommunicative body movement
- brushworkPainter's stroke method
- palette knifeFlat blade for mixing colors
impasto · layering · pouring · flinging · splattering · automatism · wet-on-wet · stroke
Active and changing
- kineticRelating to motion
- energeticHaving much vigor
- expressiveShowing feelings outwardly
- boldCourageous and daring
vivid · textured · nonrepresentational · all-over · monumental · raw · visceral · chaotic
Nonrepresentational art emphasizing spontaneous emotion
- PollockSurname of drip painter
- color fieldArt of saturated expanses
- mid-century modernPostwar design movement
- postwar artArt made after conflicts
Heavy woven cloth
- oil paintPigment bound with linseed
- enamelHard glossy coating
- acrylicsSynthetic quick-dry paints
- pigmentColor-imparting material
house paint · turpentine · linseed oil · gesso · sticks · trowels · bucket
improvisation
Spontaneous, unplanned creation
- spontaneityActing without forethought
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
- unconsciousNot awake or aware
automatism · chance · rhythm · energy · physicality · dance · performance · arena · unplanned · instinctive
drip
Liquid falling slowly
palette knife · impasto · layering · pouring · flinging · splattering · automatism · wet-on-wet · stroke · mark-making
dynamic
Active and changing
- kineticRelating to motion
- energeticHaving much vigor
- expressiveShowing feelings outwardly
bold · vivid · textured · nonrepresentational · all-over · monumental · raw · visceral · chaotic · layered
abstract expressionism
Nonrepresentational art emphasizing spontaneous emotion
- PollockSurname of drip painter
- color fieldArt of saturated expanses
- mid-century modernPostwar design movement
canvas
Heavy woven cloth
house paint · pigment · turpentine · linseed oil · gesso · sticks · trowels · bucket
- paintingwatercolor, acrylic paint, oils, oil paints, watercolors
- art techniquesdrawing, sketching, shading, blending, cross-hatching
- American ArtAmerican art, Hudson River School, American Renaissance, Ashcan School, Abstract Expressionism
- contemporary artconceptual art, contemporary art, digital art, contemporary artists, modern art
- Modern Artcubism, Cubism, Fauvism, dadaism, Dadaism
- abstract artabstract art, abstract expressionism, abstraction, expressionism, abstract composition
action paintingphotorealism
Art imitating camera accuracy
hyperrealism · trompe l'oeil · hard-edge painting · miniature painting · pointillism
action paintingneoclassicism
Movement emulating antiquity's forms
realism · photorealism · minimalism · conceptual art · naturalism
action paintingconceptual art
Work valuing notion over form
minimalism · constructivism · hard-edge painting · op art · Mondrian
action, painting, actions, reaction, interaction, reacting, reactionary, reactive, actionable