10 Contemporary Women Artists Channeling Helen Frankenthaler’s Abstract Expressionism

Widely celebrated as one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century, Helen Frankenthaler left an indelible mark on the world of Abstract Expressionism through her innovative spirit and penchant for risk-taking. “There are no rules…that is how art is born, that is how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about,” the artist once said.

At just 23 years old, Frankenthaler captured the art world’s attention with her groundbreaking soak-stain technique. This method, which built on Jackson Pollock’s drip painting approach, involved thinning oil or acrylic paint to a watercolor-like consistency and pouring it directly onto the canvas. In these works, Frankenthaler pushed the limits of Color Field painting, creating rich compositions that, even after her decades-long career and death in 2011, continue to resonate within the contemporary art world.

This fall, two major European exhibitions will spotlight the artist’s legacy. “Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules” will open at the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence on September 27th and run through January 26, 2025. “Helen Frankenthaler: Painting on Paper, 1990–2002” will be on show at Gagosian in Rome from September 20th through November 23rd.

Frankenthaler’s impact extended beyond artistic innovation. She also forged a path for female artists in an industry continuously struggling with gender inequality. “Helen Frankenthaler was one of only a handful of female artists of her generation who achieved and then sustained, over the course of a whole career, a significant national and international reputation,” said Elizabeth Smith, executive director of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.

Below, Artsy highlights ten contemporary women artists who have drawn inspiration from Frankenthaler’s trailblazing oeuvre.

B. 1990, Auckland. Lives and works in Los Angeles.

To create her mesmerizing abstract works rendered in vibrant hues, Emma McIntyre draws on a wide range of experimental techniques. In her work, she mixes her acrylic paints with oils, chemicals that induce rust, and even diamond dust, resisting conventions. “Im interested in a painting practice being a slippery, shifting, unnameable thing most of the time,” she said in an interview with Vault.

Echoing Frankenthaler’s transgressive approach, McIntyre also often pours thinned paint directly onto her canvases. From there, she intuitively incorporates brushes, rags, or her own body to arrive at spirited, abstract compositions rendered in vivacious, often contrasting colors that balance stillness with bursts of chaotic energy.

In the past, McIntyre has recognized the direct influence of Frankenthaler on her practice. In David Zwirner’s announcement of her representation, she noted that “Frankenthaler, [Joan] Mitchell, [Cy] Twombly, [Pierre] Bonnard, [Jean-Antoine] Watteau in particular are artists I come back to again and again.”

B. 1989, Honolulu. Lives and works in California.

Past and present become one in Heather Day’s composite canvases, usually created by stitching paintings she’s completed in previous years with more recent works. Showing the clear influence of Color Field painting, Day’s abstract compositions feature saturated hues achieved by pouring paint onto the canvas. The artist allows colors to clash and mix in unexpected ways as she moves the canvas and occasionally intervenes in the pools of pigment with a brush.

Day, who received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2012, has cited Frankenthaler as a source of inspiration for her work. Just like Frankenthaler, she approaches her artistic practice as a continuous opportunity for innovation. “For me, a huge part of artmaking is constantly figuring out how to keep experimenting in the studio and create chaos…it’s constantly creating rules and breaking them over and over again,” she said in an interview with W magazine.

Day is currently showing her first solo exhibition with Berggruen Gallery, “Cut, Split, Horizon.”

B. 1962, Seoul. Lives and works in Los Angeles.

The influence of Color Field painters like Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis is evident in Yunhee Min’s work, where color is a driving force. The Los Angeles–based artist can often take days to find the right tones and consistencies to employ in her abstract works.

Once she arrives at the desired colors, Min selects a palette to begin. She then works horizontally, applying paint through techniques such as pouring, rolling, and swirling. Using tools like paint brushes and squeegees, she works on a variety of surfaces, including canvases, glass panels, and fluorescent light tubes. The result is a series of richly textured abstract works that showcase her mastery of color.

Represented by Miles McEnery Gallery, Min holds a BFA from the ArtCenter College of Design and an MA in design studies from Harvard University. Her work has been widely exhibited in the United States and particularly her home state of California. Most notably, she had a solo show at the Hammer Museum in 2019, and she was a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2022.

B. 1987, Paris. Lives and works in Paris.

Frankenthaler once said that beyond wanting to experiment with style, she wanted to experiment with the different ways she knew herself. This intimate connection to painting echoes in the oeuvre of Paris-based painter Julie Beaufils, who sees painting as a way of “materializing the images, thoughts, and emotions that run through us.”

At first glance, Beaufils’s work often seems entirely abstract, but a closer examination reveals intelligible figures that invite interpretation. Much like Frankenthaler, the artist uses color with a bold and unapologetic intensity, blurring the boundaries between conscious and subconscious worlds.

A graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the University of Southern California’s Roski School of Art, she’s represented by Matthew Brown Gallery and Balice Hertling. In 2025, Beaufils is set to have a solo show at the Yuz Museum Shanghai.

B. 1982, San Antonio. Lives and works in Philadelphia.

A self-taught artist, a’driane nieves first turned to painting while recovering from postpartum depression in 2011. Recognizing the therapeutic effects of the practice, she eventually discovered the benefits of Abstract Expressionism as a means to address trauma and emotional suppression.

nieves’s intensely unruly works reflect the influence of abstract painters like Joan Mitchell and Bernice Bing, but the artist also found inspiration in Frankenthaler’s oeuvre early on in her artistic practice. “I’d say [it] revolved primarily around her use of color but also size,” nieves said, in an interview with Artsy. “Seeing how large she worked and how expansive her canvases were helped me understand that I don’t have to limit myself in terms of either…[she] encouraged me to be bold and unrestrained in the studio.”

This fall, nieves will have a solo booth at The Armory Show with Galerie Marguo, which represents her.

B. 1986, Kolkata. Lives and works in New York.

Using raw natural fibers and dyes, Sagarika Sundaram creates sculptures, reliefs, and installations that explore humanity’s deep and inescapable connection to the natural world. At first glance, Sundaram’s practice may appear quite distinct from that of Helen Frankenthaler. However, a closer examination of Sundaram’s intricate works, such as Asia Major (2019) and Imago (2023), reveals notable parallels in the two artists’ use of color and composition.

“Sagarika creates these monumental painterly and sculptural works that, upon closer examination, resonate with Frankenthaler’s approach,” said Smith, from the Frankenthaler Foundation. “It’s fascinating to see the reverberations Frankenthaler has had.”

With degrees from the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad and the Maryland Institute College of Art, as well as an MFA in textiles from Parsons School of Design, Sundaram is represented by PALO Gallery and Nature Morte. Her work will be on show this fall at The Armory Show (with Nature Morte) and at Frieze London (with Alison Jacques).

B. 1993, Madrid. Lives and works in Barcelona.

When Violeta Maya arrives at her studio, she begins by laying her canvases flat and soaking them in water. From that moment onward, the passage of time influences the humidity of the surface on which Maya pours acrylic paints and pigments. They erupt and dry at varying speeds to produce spontaneous and enthralling compositions. “Once dry, the [canvases] no longer welcome the paint in the same way: It is the humidity of the canvas that offers surprise, branches out the brushstrokes, blurs the colors, amplifies the stains, and explodes the pigments,” the artist explained in an interview with Les Nouveaux Riches.

Represented by Alzueta Gallery and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, the rising artist graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2015. Highly influenced and inspired by Frankenthaler’s techniques and aesthetics, Maya created the work La diosa de los mares (2024) in direct response to Frankenthaler’s painting Sea Goddess (1963). Both works are currently on view side by side as part of the group show “Between Us” at Olivia Foundation in Mexico City, on view through October 27th. In 2025, Maya is set to have a solo show at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery in New York and another at Alzueta Gallery’s Palau de Casavells in Girona, Spain.

B. 1972, Germany. Lives and works in Zürich.

A profound passion for color is at the center of Yvonne Robert’s bright and rhythmic paintings. “I am motivated mostly by colors—that is always the beginning. I want to paint spontaneously, intuitively, and loosely without it looking impatient,” the artist has said in an interview.

Taking an impulsive approach to painting, Robert seeks to create a corresponding response in her audience, in which paintings conjure emotions and allow instincts to take over.

Speaking about the influence of Frankenthaler on her oeuvre, Robert describes the American artist as “the queen of composition,” a focus that is also evidently central to the Zürich-based artist’s works. While she admires Frankenthaler’s exceptional use of color, it is her compositional mastery that Robert finds most inspiring. This influence is apparent in Robert’s own approach, where color and composition are intertwined to create compelling visual harmonies. She has exhibited extensively internationally, including at Cheryl Hazan Gallery, Kostuik Gallery, and Piermarq, which represent the artist, among others.

B. 1941, Lake Charles, Louisiana. Lives and works in New York; Santa Fe; Kastellorizo, Greece; and Ahmedabad, India.

In the 1960s, sculptor Lynda Benglis pushed the boundaries of Minimalism and went on to become an internationally acclaimed artist with works in the collections of the Tate, MoMA, and many more. Hers is not the first name that comes to mind when considering contemporary artists inspired by Frankenthaler. However, according to Smith, she’s “the best-known female artist who has expressed how influential Frankenthaler was on her artistic practice.”

Indeed, it was around the time of Frankenthaler’s retrospective at the Whitney Museum in 1969 that Benglis began pouring latex onto the floor to make her now-iconic works, which often straddle the limits between painting and sculpture. Notably, one of her early pieces, Odalisque (Hey, Hey Frankenthaler) (1969), serves as a direct homage to Frankenthaler’s influence.

B. 1955, Detroit. Lives and works in New York.