Paula Rego
Nanny, Small Bears and Bogeyman
(1982)
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Philip Guston
Black Sea
(1977)
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Georg Baselitz
Adieu
(1982)
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Anselm Kiefer
Lilith
(1987–9)
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Gerhard Richter
Abstract Painting No. 439
(1978)
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Sigmar Polke
Untitled (Square 2)
(2003)
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David Salle
High and Low
(1994)
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It was seen as a reaction to the minimalism and conceptual art that had dominated the 1970s.
In the USA leading figures were Philip Guston and Julian Schnabel, and in Britain Christopher Le Brun and Paula Rego. There was a major development of neo-expressionism in Germany, as might be expected with its expressionist heritage, but also in Italy. In Germany the neo-expressionists became known as Neue Wilden (i.e. new Fauves). In Italy, neo-expressionist painting appeared under the banner of Transavanguardia (beyond the avant-garde). In France a group called Figuration Libre was formed in 1981 by Robert Combas, Remi Blanchard, Francois Boisrond and Herve de Rosa.