Arshile Gorky

(American, 1904–1948)

Arshile Gorky was an Armenian-American painter best known for his profound influence on the developments of Abstract Expressionism. Gorky built on the developments of Surrealism with a vocabulary of painterly brushwork and idiosyncratic forms, to produce works such as Garden in Sochi (1941). “The stuff of thought is the seed of the artist. Dreams form the bristles of the artist's brush,” he once mused. “As the eye functions as the brain's sentry, I communicate my innermost perceptions through the art, my worldview.” Born Vostanik Manoug Adoian on April 15, 1904 in Khorgom, Ottoman Empire, he and his family were victims of the Armenian Genocide. Having survived a death march at the hands of the Turkish military, he saw his mother die from starvation as a teenager. This event scarred the young artist, with the painful memory later leading him to produce The Artist and His Mother (1926–1936). Fleeing first to Russia and then to the United States in 1920, he changed his name and identity, adopting the last of name of the Russian writer Maxim Gorky to avoid discussing his past. He went on to attend the New School of Design in Boston, where he absorbed the influence of Impressionism and Paul Cézanne. Moving to New York in the early 1930s, he found work as a muralist for the WPA, where he met fellow painters Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. By 1940, Gorky had adopted a Surrealist logic and began using his drawings from nature as catalysts for his abstract paintings. Suffering from depression brought on by health problems and the dissolution of his marriage, the artist committed suicide on July 21, 1948 in Sherman, CT. Today, his works are held the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Tate Gallery in London, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.
 

Arshile Gorky News

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By the Numbers: A Breakdown of Results From Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale, November 2023

by Eileen Kinsella
By the Numbers: A Breakdown of Results From Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale, November 2023
Galleries

During Routine Maintenance, Conservators Discovered an Unknown Arshile Gorky Painting Hidden Behind a Work on Paper

by Sarah Cascone
During Routine Maintenance, Conservators Discovered an Unknown Arshile Gorky Painting Hidden Behind a Work on Paper
Auctions

New Auction Records for Hopper and de Kooning Lead Christie's Booming $318 Million Barney Ebsworth Sale

by Eileen Kinsella
New Auction Records for Hopper and de Kooning Lead Christie's Booming $318 Million Barney Ebsworth Sale

Arshile Gorky Artworks

Artworks for Sale &
Auction Results

Arshile Gorky (550 results)
Composition surréaliste, Circa 1945, 1945

Arshile Gorky

Composition surréaliste, Circa 1945, 1945

Sale Date: December 18, 2020

Auction Closed

Valentine, with garden in sochi motif, 1938

Arshile Gorky

Valentine, with garden in sochi motif, 1938

Sale Date: December 15, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1943

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1943

Sale Date: December 3, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled., 1936

Arshile Gorky

Untitled., 1936

Sale Date: December 3, 2020

Auction Closed

Recto: Untitled (Antique heads) – Verso:..., 1935

Arshile Gorky

Recto: Untitled (Antique heads) – Verso:..., 1935

Sale Date: December 9, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1943

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1943

Sale Date: November 18, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1946

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1946

Sale Date: October 27, 2020

Auction Closed

STUDY FOR NIGHTTIME, ENIGMA AND NOSTALGIA, 1930

Arshile Gorky

STUDY FOR NIGHTTIME, ENIGMA AND NOSTALGIA, 1930

Sale Date: October 6, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled Double Drawing, 1937–1938

Arshile Gorky

Untitled Double Drawing, 1937–1938

Sale Date: September 17, 2020

Auction Closed

Abstract Still Life, 1935

Arshile Gorky

Abstract Still Life, 1935

Sale Date: September 17, 2020

Auction Closed

Study for Good Afternoon, Mrs. Lincoln, 1944

Arshile Gorky

Study for Good Afternoon, Mrs. Lincoln, 1944

Sale Date: July 10, 2020

Auction Closed

UNTITLED (VIRGINIA LANDSCAPE), 1943

Arshile Gorky

UNTITLED (VIRGINIA LANDSCAPE), 1943

Sale Date: June 29, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1933

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1933

Sale Date: January 24, 2020

Auction Closed

UNTITLED, 1936

Arshile Gorky

UNTITLED, 1936

Sale Date: December 6, 2019

Auction Closed

Portrait of Schary, 1938–1942

Arshile Gorky

Portrait of Schary, 1938–1942

Sale Date: November 19, 2019

Auction Closed

Figure and Head Studies, a double-sided work

Arshile Gorky

Figure and Head Studies, a double-sided work

Sale Date: November 19, 2019

Auction Closed

STUDY FOR

Arshile Gorky

STUDY FOR "AGONY", 1946

Sale Date: November 13, 2019

Auction Closed

PORTRAIT OF A GIRL, 1927

Arshile Gorky

PORTRAIT OF A GIRL, 1927

Sale Date: November 13, 2019

Auction Closed

Study for the Betrothal, 1946–1947

Arshile Gorky

Study for the Betrothal, 1946–1947

Sale Date: November 14, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1943–1946

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1943–1946

Sale Date: November 8, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1944–1946

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1944–1946

Sale Date: November 6, 2019

Auction Closed

STUDY FOR AGONY, 1946–1947

Arshile Gorky

STUDY FOR AGONY, 1946–1947

Sale Date: October 2, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled (Portrait of Vartoosh), 1932–1934

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (Portrait of Vartoosh), 1932–1934

Sale Date: September 27, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1945

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1945

Sale Date: September 27, 2019

Auction Closed

English (US)

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