Abstract Paintings for a Home Office

Color and shape for their own sake, from the painters who first let go of the subject. Architecture, bridges, harbors, library and study interiors, and calm geometric or early abstract compositions give the wall order; muted palettes keep the room focused. Here are 16 paintings for a home office, each an abstract or geometric composition, with works by Piet Mondrian, H. Lyman Saÿen and Joseph Schillinger.

All 691 paintings for a home office

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884, Georges Seurat 24 × 36 in landscape print (61 × 91 cm), centered 51¼ in from the floor, 8 in above the desk. Drawn to scale on a 12 × 8 ft wall.

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16 abstract paintings

Large painting of people in a crowded park, brushstrokes are dots.

Georges Seurat A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884, 1884–86, border added 1888–89 Art Institute of Chicago

No te aha oe riri (Why Are You Angry?), Paul Gauguin, 1896, oil on jute canvas

Paul Gauguin No te aha oe riri (Why Are You Angry?), 1896 Art Institute of Chicago

Improvisation, Childe Hassam, 1899, oil on canvas

Childe Hassam Improvisation, 1899 Smithsonian American Art Museum

A square white tile, rotated 90 degrees, crossed by black lines intersecting at 90-degree angles. A few of the shapes thus formed—some partial squares, some rectangles—are colored in a single shade of yellow, blue, black, or red.

Piet Mondrian Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray, 1921 Art Institute of Chicago

Abstract line composition of black lines at right angles forming quadrants including a gray square at upper left and a gray rectangle and red rectangle at lower right, against a white background.

Piet Mondrian Composition (No. 1) Gray-Red, 1935 Art Institute of Chicago

The Thundershower, H. Lyman Saÿen, ca. 1917-1918, tempera on wood

H. Lyman Saÿen The Thundershower, ca. 1917-1918 Smithsonian American Art Museum

Spirit of Christmas, Carl Newman, ca. 1915-1920, oil and tempera on fiberboard

Carl Newman Spirit of Christmas, ca. 1915-1920 Smithsonian American Art Museum

Abstract painting in various bright colors—yellow, blue, red, green, orange, pink—with lines indicating building-like structures as well as canons in the lower right corner.

Wassily Kandinsky Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons), 1913 Art Institute of Chicago

A multitude of vibrantly colored shapes interweave with one another.

Marsden Hartley Movement, 1913 Art Institute of Chicago

Scheherazade, H. Lyman Saÿen, 1915, oil on canvas

H. Lyman Saÿen Scheherazade, 1915 Smithsonian American Art Museum

Area Broken by Perpendiculars, Joseph Schillinger, ca. 1934, opaque watercolor

Joseph Schillinger Area Broken by Perpendiculars, ca. 1934 Smithsonian American Art Museum

Study in Rhythm: Red and Gold, Joseph Schillinger, ca. 1934, gouache on paperboard

Joseph Schillinger Study in Rhythm: Red and Gold, ca. 1934 Smithsonian American Art Museum

Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, Piet Mondrian, 1927, oil on canvas

Piet Mondrian Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, 1927 Cleveland Museum of Art

Irregular, geometric shapes in burnt orange, pale peach, light blue, forest and mint green, brown, taupe, gray, and black are layered and spread across this horizontal, abstract painting. They are mostly flat planes of color.

Juan Gris Glass and Checkerboard, c. 1917 National Gallery of Art

Daughter in a Rocker, H. Lyman Saÿen, 1917-1918, tempera and collage on wood

H. Lyman Saÿen Daughter in a Rocker, 1917-1918 Smithsonian American Art Museum

Composition no. 61, Stuart Walker, 1939, oil on canvas

Abstract Paintings for a Home Office

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