Minimalism is an art movement that began after World War II in Western art. It is often seen as a response to abstract expressionism and modernism. The movement influenced later art styles that built on or thought about minimalism's ideas. Minimalism focused on making art simple, highlighting the object itself and the viewer's experience with little help from the artist. Important artists connected to minimalism include Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella.
In music, minimalism uses techniques like repeating sounds and slowly changing them, as seen in the works of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Julius Eastman, and John Adams. The term is also sometimes used to describe the plays and books of Samuel Beckett, the films of Robert Bresson, the stories of Raymond Carver, and the car designs of Colin Chapman. In recent years, minimalism has come to describe anything or anyone that is simple or reduced to its most basic parts.
Visual arts and literalist art
Minimalism in visual art, also known as "minimal art," "literalist art," and "ABC Art," is an art movement that began in New York in the early 1960s. It developed as a response to a style called abstract expressionism. Artists who worked in painting and were connected to Minimalism include Nassos Daphnis, Frank Stella, Kenneth Noland, Al Held, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Ryman, and others. Artists who created sculptures linked to Minimalism include Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, David Smith, Anthony Caro, and others. In painting, Minimalism is often marked by the use of hard edges, straight lines, simple shapes, and a focus on flat, two-dimensional surfaces.
American minimalist artists were influenced by earlier European art movements. At the time, New York hosted exhibitions featuring artists from the German Bauhaus, Russian Constructivists, and Dutch De Stijl movements. These groups created radical abstract art and inspired artists like Robert Morris, Dan Flavin, and Donald Judd to explore new artistic directions. These artists aimed to create art that gave viewers an immediate visual reaction without connecting to anything outside the artwork itself. To highlight the visible parts of art, they removed elements that expressed personal feelings or gestures.
Minimalism was partly a reaction to the expressive, personal style of Abstract Expressionism, which was popular in New York during the 1940s and 1950s. Artists who created Minimalism were not satisfied with the spontaneous and emotional qualities of Action Painting and Abstract Expressionism. They believed that art should exist only as itself and avoid any connections to ideas or meanings beyond the artwork.
In 1964, Donald Judd’s work was displayed at the Green Gallery in Manhattan, New York City, along with Dan Flavin’s first pieces using fluorescent lights. Other important galleries in Manhattan, such as Leo Castelli Gallery and Pace Gallery, also began showing art that followed Minimalist ideas.
In sculpture, Minimalism is often characterized by simple geometric shapes made from industrial materials like plastic, metal, aluminum, concrete, and fiberglass. These materials are typically left in their natural state or painted a single solid color.
In a broader sense, Minimalism as a visual approach can be traced to the geometric styles of painters from the Bauhaus movement, as well as the works of artists like Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, and others connected to the De Stijl and Russian Constructivist movements. It also appears in the sculptures of Constantin Brâncuși.
As a formal approach, Minimalism has been used in the paintings of Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, and Josef Albers, as well as in the works of artists such as Pablo Picasso, Yayoi Kusama, and Giorgio Morandi. Yves Klein explored Minimalism through his monochrome paintings, creating them as early as 1949. His first private exhibition of these works was in 1950, and his first public display appeared in the Artist’s book Yves: Peintures in November 1954.
Michael Fried referred to Minimalist artists as "literalists" and used the term negatively. He believed that art should offer a meaningful experience through metaphors, symbols, and stylized forms. In his view, literalist art requires a viewer to recognize it as art. For example, a regular sculpture remains a work of art even if it is not seen, and its location does not affect its status. However, Donald Judd’s sculptures (see photo) are simply objects placed in the desert, waiting for someone to find them and accept them as art.
Design, architecture, and spaces
The term minimalism describes a trend in design and architecture where only the most necessary parts of a subject are used. Minimalist architects focus on using empty space well, using neutral colors, and removing extra decorations to highlight the materials, textures, and how things feel. Minimalist architecture became popular in the late 1980s in London, England, and New York City. At that time, architects and fashion designers worked together in stores to create simple designs with white elements, cool lighting, and large spaces with few decorations.
The works of De Stijl artists are an important influence. De Stijl artists organized basic elements like lines and shapes carefully. In 1924, the Rietveld Schroder House was built for Truus Schröder-Schräder, a design that helped start the minimalism movement. This house shows slabs, beams, and posts that reflect De Stijl’s idea of connecting form and function. Some home designs that look "minimalistic" are not truly minimalistic because they are larger, use more expensive materials, and have more details.
Minimalist design was greatly influenced by traditional Japanese design and architecture. Before Western minimalism and before World War II, minimalism was practiced in East Asia as a way of life, not just an art style. Some people say minimalism started as a reaction to the noise and disorder of city life. For example, in the 1980s in Japan, minimalist architecture became popular because of the growing population and fast-growing cities. The design was seen as a way to deal with the problems of too much traffic, advertising, and crowded buildings. These issues were caused not only by cities growing but also by Japan rebuilding after World War II and natural disasters like earthquakes and fires. Minimalism was already part of Japanese culture, rooted in Zen philosophy, which values simplicity and nature. Some people believe the design movement came from Japan’s spiritual beliefs and view of nature.
Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) used the phrase "Less is more" to describe his style. He arranged the necessary parts of a building to create a look of extreme simplicity, making every element serve both visual and practical purposes. For example, he designed floors that also acted as radiators or fireplaces that also housed bathrooms. Designer Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) focused on the idea of "Doing more with less," but his work was more about technology and engineering than about beauty.
The goal of minimalist architecture is to remove all unnecessary parts and create simplicity. It is not completely without decoration, but every detail is reduced so much that nothing else can be taken away without harming the design.
When thinking about "essences," architects consider light, shape, material details, space, location, and how people live. Minimalist architects look not only at the physical parts of a building but also at how people, space, nature, and materials interact. They believe this helps reveal hidden qualities like natural light, the sky, and the air. They also try to create a connection between buildings and their surroundings to decide what materials are most important for construction.
In minimalist architecture, design elements aim to show simplicity. Basic shapes, simple materials, and repeating structures create a sense of order and focus on essentials. Natural light moving through buildings shows clean, simple spaces. In the late 1800s, the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain valued the idea of "truth to materials," meaning using the natural qualities of materials. Minimalist architects look closely at materials, finding value in simple, common ones. Minimalist architecture is meant to make spaces less cluttered, improve usefulness, and create a calm and peaceful feeling. Three rules architects often follow when designing minimalist spaces are: the "in, one out" rule, organizing spaces by zones, and the "90/90 rule."
The idea of simplicity appears in many cultures, especially in Japanese traditional culture based on Zen Buddhist philosophy. Japanese people use Zen ideas in their buildings and designs. This style influenced Western societies, especially in America since the mid-1800s and inspired minimalist architecture in the 20th century.
Zen ideas about simplicity show freedom and the true meaning of life. Simplicity is not just about beauty but also about understanding truth and the hidden qualities of materials and objects. For example, the sand garden at Ryōan-ji temple uses a few stones and a large empty space to show simplicity and the importance of emptiness.
The Japanese idea of "Ma" refers to empty or open space. It removes unnecessary walls and creates space that focuses on the most important parts. The emptiness in a design reduces everything to its most basic form.
The Japanese idea of "wabi-sabi" values simple, plain objects. It finds beauty in quietness and shows the natural character of materials. For example, the Japanese flower arrangement called ikebana focuses on letting the flower express itself. People cut away extra parts of plants and keep only the most important parts, showing the natural qualities of nature.
The Japanese architect Tadao Ando uses traditional Japanese ideas and his own views of nature in his work. He uses materials like concrete or wood and simple shapes to create calm spaces with light. He also connects buildings with the land and nature to create balance and order. His work and the Japanese ideas of beauty influence Japanese architecture.
Another Japanese architect, Kazuyo Sejima, works alone and with Ryue Nishizawa as SANAA. They create famous minimalist buildings. Their designs often use white, thin structures, and transparent parts. Examples of their work include the New Museum in New York City, a Small House in Tokyo, and a House Surrounded by Plum Trees in Tokyo.
In the Vitra Conference Pavilion in Weil am Rhein, Germany (1993), the design connects the building, people moving through it, the land, and nature. This is a key idea in minimalism, showing how buildings and their surroundings interact. The building uses simple shapes like circles and rectangles to contrast the filled and empty spaces inside with the outside. In the entrance, the design highlights the relationship between the building and its environment.
Literature
Literary minimalism uses few words and focuses on simple descriptions. Writers who follow this style avoid using adverbs and let the context help readers understand the meaning. Readers are expected to actively imagine the story, making choices based on subtle hints and suggestions, rather than following the writer's direct instructions.
Austrian architect and theorist Adolf Loos wrote about minimalism in his book Ornament and Crime.
Early writers who influenced literary minimalism include Stephen Crane and Ernest Hemingway.
In the 1940s, crime fiction writers like James M. Cain and Jim Thompson used a simple, straightforward writing style. Some people consider this style to be a form of minimalism.
Another form of literary minimalism developed in the 1960s and 1970s as a reaction to the metafiction trend. Writers such as John Barth, Robert Coover, and William H. Gass used simple language and kept emotional distance from their subjects.
Writers known for their minimalist style, or for using it during certain periods, include Raymond Carver, Ann Beattie, Bret Easton Ellis, Charles Bukowski, K. J. Stevens, Amy Hempel, Bobbie Ann Mason, Tobias Wolff, Grace Paley, Sandra Cisneros, Mary Robison, Frederick Barthelme, Richard Ford, Patrick Holland, Cormac McCarthy, David Leavitt, and Alicia Erian.
American poets like William Carlos Williams, early Ezra Pound, Robert Creeley, Robert Grenier, Aram Saroyan, BpNichol, and Geof Huth are sometimes linked to minimalism. Aram Saroyan is famous for his one-word poem "lighght," which was included in The American Literary Anthology and earned a $750 prize from the National Endowment for the Arts. This caused anger among some conservative politicians, such as Jesse Helms. BpNichol, a Canadian poet, wrote minimalist poems like "str," "em ty," and "groww." These poems were collected in an anthology called The Alphabet Game*, edited by Darren Werschler-Henry and Lori Emerson. Geof Huth is known for his concept of the "pwoermd," a poem made of only one word. Some minimalist poetry overlaps with visual poetry, especially when the poem's meaning is enhanced by its appearance. The term "minimalism" is also connected to haiku, a short poetic form from Japan. In English literature, poets like Nick Virgilio, Raymond Roseliep, and George Swede adapted haiku.
The Irish writer Samuel Beckett and the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse are known for their minimalist plays and prose.
Dimitris Lyacos's With the People from the Bridge, which uses simple monologues and minimal storytelling, is a modern example of minimalist writing in plays.
In his novel The Easy Chain, Evan Dara includes a 60-page section inspired by the musical style of composer Steve Reich. This section uses repeated and evolving phrases to show the main character's agitated mental state.
Music
The term "minimal music" was first used in 1970 by Michael Nyman, who took the idea from a style called minimalism, which was already used in visual art. In 1968, Nyman wrote a review in The Spectator where he described a ten-minute piano piece by the Danish composer Henning Christiansen. He also mentioned other unnamed works performed by Charlotte Moorman and Nam June Paik at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.
Earlier, the idea of minimal music had roots in the 1940s. It is said that the French artist Yves Klein created a piece called The Monotone-Silence Symphony between 1947 and 1949. This work included a single 20-minute sustained chord followed by 20 minutes of silence. It was first performed in 1960.
Film and cinema
In film, minimalism is often linked to directors like Robert Bresson, Chantal Akerman, Carl Theodor Dreyer, and Yasujirō Ozu. Their movies usually have simple stories, use basic camera techniques, and include little or no background music. Paul Schrader called this style of filmmaking "transcendental cinema." Today, filmmakers who follow minimalist approaches can be found in movements such as Dogme 95, mumblecore, and the Romanian New Wave. Abbas Kiarostami, Elia Suleiman, and Kelly Reichardt are also known for creating minimalist films.
The Minimalists—Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus, and Matt D'Avella—made and created the film Minimalism: A Documentary, which showed how people can live with fewer things in the modern world.
In other fields
A capsule wardrobe is a type of clothing collection that follows the idea of minimalism in fashion. It includes only a few basic pieces that stay stylish over time and is usually made up of one or two main colors. These wardrobes are designed to be simple, easy to use, and able to change with different situations. They can be combined with other clothes for different seasons when needed. The modern idea of a capsule wardrobe began in the 1970s and was first introduced by Susie Faux, a London boutique owner. Later, in the 1980s, American designer Donna Karan helped make this concept more popular by creating a famous collection of workwear in 1985.
To explain global warming to people who are not scientists, British climate scientist Ed Hawkins created warming stripes in 2018. These visuals are intentionally simple, without scientific details, so they are easier for non-scientists to understand. Hawkins said that people can understand the meaning of the stripes naturally, without needing extra explanation.
Warming stripe graphics look similar to color field paintings, which use only color to communicate ideas. These paintings remove all other details and focus on color alone. An artist named Barnett Newman, who was known for color field art, once said his work was meant to show clear, obvious truths. Hawkins used this same idea when creating warming stripes to show the problem of climate change. Some people have said these visuals are suitable for places like the Museum of Modern Art or the Getty.
A tempestry is a type of tapestry that combines the words "temperature" and "tapestry." It uses colored yarn strips to represent different temperature ranges. These tapestries show how global warming is happening in specific areas.
In a lifestyle that follows minimalism, people try to use only the most important materials and avoid using more than what they personally decide is needed. Many terms have come from this idea, such as minimalist decor, skincare, style, and accessories. These terms mean using only the most necessary products in each area of life. This approach helps people focus on what truly matters, reduces waste, and saves time by avoiding the need to buy extra items that might not be useful.
A minimalist lifestyle allows people to enjoy life with simple things that are easy to find and do not require great effort or cost to obtain. It can also help reduce clutter in homes.