This book provides new insights into the flowering of radical abstraction after 1945, focusing on the creative interplay between painters in the broader orbit of Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel.

Following World War II, Western painting ventured in completely new directions. A young generation of artists turned their backs on the dominant styles of the interwar period. Instead of figurative representation or geometric abstraction, painters associated with Abstract Expressionism in the US and Art Informel in Western Europe pursued a radically impulsive approach to form, colour, and material.

As an expression of individual freedom, the spontaneous artistic gesture gained symbolic significance. Large-scale colour-field compositions created a meditative space for contemplating the fundamental questions of human existence.

The exhibition and catalogue examine the two sister movements against the backdrop of a vibrant transatlantic exchange, from the 1940s through to the end of the Cold War. The lavishly illustrated volume brings together works by more than 60 artists, including Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, K. O. Götz, Franz Kline, Lee Krasner, Georges Mathieu, Joan Mitchell, Ernst-Wilhelm Nay, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Judit Reigl, Mark Rothko, and Clyfford Still.