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

Artnet News Pro

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)
Untitled (Antique Heads), 1935

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (Antique Heads), 1935

Sale Date: November 14, 2012

Auction Closed

Impatience, 1945

Arshile Gorky

Impatience, 1945

Sale Date: November 13, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1945

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1945

Sale Date: September 22, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled (study for Khatchdzar [Tree of the..., 1946

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (study for Khatchdzar [Tree of the..., 1946

Sale Date: September 21, 2012

Auction Closed

Studies of Female Nudes, 1930

Arshile Gorky

Studies of Female Nudes, 1930

Sale Date: June 12, 2012

Auction Closed

Study for Agony

Arshile Gorky

Study for Agony

Sale Date: May 8, 2012

Auction Closed

Khorkom, 1938

Arshile Gorky

Khorkom, 1938

Sale Date: May 9, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1944

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1944

Sale Date: May 9, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1940

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1940

Sale Date: May 9, 2012

Auction Closed

Figure (study), 1930

Arshile Gorky

Figure (study), 1930

Sale Date: November 17, 2011

Auction Closed

Still life, 1928

Arshile Gorky

Still life, 1928

Sale Date: November 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Delicate game (study), 1946

Arshile Gorky

Delicate game (study), 1946

Sale Date: November 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1941

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1941

Sale Date: November 8, 2011

Auction Closed

The unattainable (study), 1945

Arshile Gorky

The unattainable (study), 1945

Sale Date: November 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Head of a woman, 1936–1942

Arshile Gorky

Head of a woman, 1936–1942

Sale Date: September 23, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled (Cubist standing figure)..., 1935–1936

Arshile Gorky

Untitled (Cubist standing figure)..., 1935–1936

Sale Date: September 23, 2011

Auction Closed

Valentine, with garden in sochi motif, 1938

Arshile Gorky

Valentine, with garden in sochi motif, 1938

Sale Date: September 21, 2011

Auction Closed

Abstraction

Arshile Gorky

Abstraction

Sale Date: April 17, 2010

Auction Closed

Compostion with standing figure (+ Still life,...

Arshile Gorky

Compostion with standing figure (+ Still life,...

Sale Date: June 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Still life with fruit (+ Abstract..., 1928–1937

Arshile Gorky

Still life with fruit (+ Abstract..., 1928–1937

Sale Date: June 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Image in Xhorkom (study), 1935

Arshile Gorky

Image in Xhorkom (study), 1935

Sale Date: May 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Mother and child, 1937

Arshile Gorky

Mother and child, 1937

Sale Date: May 12, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1944

Arshile Gorky

Untitled, 1944

Sale Date: May 10, 2011

Auction Closed

Portrait of Elinor Graham (+ Portrait of..., 1933

Arshile Gorky

Portrait of Elinor Graham (+ Portrait of..., 1933

Sale Date: March 9, 2011

Auction Closed

English (US)

©2024 Artnet Worldwide Corporation. All rights reserved.