New York

Abstract Expressionism would emerge from a post-war mood of anxiety and trauma. These were artists who, like the surrealists before them had a profound interest in the unconscious mind. They produced work that may have been abstract but was also emotional, expressive and universal. Despite their differences, the physical act of painting united them. The work they produced came straight from the gut. It was an art form that was monumental in scale and an expression of the individual. It would run alongside (and be inspired) by that other great improvisational American art form: Jazz.