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

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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

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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)
Fireplace in Virginia, 1946

Arshile Gorky

Fireplace in Virginia, 1946

Sale Date: December 11, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1945

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1945

Sale Date: November 12, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1946

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1946

Sale Date: November 13, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1946

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1946

Sale Date: November 13, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled (Antique heads), 1935

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (Antique heads), 1935

Sale Date: September 25, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled (Portrait of a woman's head), 1938–1940

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (Portrait of a woman's head), 1938–1940

Sale Date: September 25, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled (Drawing from a 1931 Sketchbook), 1931

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (Drawing from a 1931 Sketchbook), 1931

Sale Date: July 17, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1944

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1944

Sale Date: July 17, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled (Head), 1937

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (Head), 1937

Sale Date: May 22, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1946–1947

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1946–1947

Sale Date: May 17, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1934–1935

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1934–1935

Sale Date: May 15, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled (Composition), 1945

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (Composition), 1945

Sale Date: May 16, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled (Tree of the Cross), 1946

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (Tree of the Cross), 1946

Sale Date: May 16, 2013

Auction Closed

Virginia Landscape, 1944

Arshile Gorky

Virginia Landscape, 1944

Sale Date: May 16, 2013

Auction Closed

Fireplace in Virginia, 1946

Arshile Gorky

Fireplace in Virginia, 1946

Sale Date: May 16, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled (Man with Rake, Wheelbarrow, in Field)

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (Man with Rake, Wheelbarrow, in Field)

Sale Date: May 8, 2013

Auction Closed

Sans titre (study for Nighttime, Enigma , 1931–1933

Arshile Gorky

Sans titre (study for Nighttime, Enigma , 1931–1933

Sale Date: April 11, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1944

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1944

Sale Date: November 15, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1945

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1945

Sale Date: November 16, 2012

Auction Closed

Study for Agony, 1946–1947

Arshile Gorky

Study for Agony, 1946–1947

Sale Date: November 16, 2012

Auction Closed

Portrait of a Woman (The Artist's Wife), 1935

Arshile Gorky

Portrait of a Woman (The Artist's Wife), 1935

Sale Date: November 14, 2012

Auction Closed

Gaylordsville, 1937

Arshile Gorky

Gaylordsville, 1937

Sale Date: November 14, 2012

Auction Closed

Vase of Flowers, 1938–1942

Arshile Gorky

Vase of Flowers, 1938–1942

Sale Date: November 14, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled (Portrait of a Woman's Head), 1938–1940

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (Portrait of a Woman's Head), 1938–1940

Sale Date: November 14, 2012

Auction Closed

English (US)

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