The pioneering painters matured as artists at a time when America was suffering economically after World War II.

However, they all had one thing in common: a dedication to self-expression.

Read on to discover six famous artists who were part of the groundbreaking Abstract Expressionist movement.

Here are six famous artists who helped define the Abstract Expressionist movement.

He painted fleeting flashes of vibrant hues that interrupted and contrasted against huge expanses of color.

These are not paintings in the usual sense, Still once said.

Still continued making art until his death in 1980.

Pollocks legacy still lives on.

Today painters do not have to go to a subject matter outside of themselves, Pollock once said.

Most modern painters work from a different source.

They work from within.

I happened to be Mrs. Jackson Pollock and that’s a mouthful, she said.

Krasners formidable determination comes across in the bold canvases she painted.

She worked instinctually and painted with controlled chaos.

HerLittle Imageseries of 31 paintings demonstrate the expressive power of small, intricate lines and gestures.

In her later works, Krasner worked through her profound grief after Pollock’s death.

Her large-scale, brilliantly colored canvases rendered in assertive brushstrokes pulsate with energy.

They express a sense of elation and healing after emotional trauma.

He played an integral role in the Abstract Expressionist movement.

But unlike other artists of the style, De Kooning never fully abandoned depicting the human form.

In 1987late in his 60-year careerDe Kooning was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease.

This didnt hinder his artistic output, though.

In fact, he was more prolific than ever and continued to paint until his health seriously declined.

I dont live to paint.

I paint to live.

His works engulf the viewer into an intense, sensory atmosphere.

I think of my pictures as dramas, he was quoted saying.

The shapes in the pictures are the performers.

Throughout his life, Rothko championed social revolutionary thought and the right to self-expression.

He often felt that the art market was too critical and refused to bend to its expectations.

He publicly responded to critics and even refused commissions, sales, and exhibitions.

Towards the end of his life, Rothkos mental health suffered.

He died by suicide at age 66.

Frankenthaler didnt conform to art world ideals.

She expressed herself through bold experimentation and innovation.

There are no rules, she once said.

That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen.

Go against the rules or ignore the rules.

That is what invention is about.

Frankenthaler died in 2011 at her home in Darien, Connecticut.