Minimal art was a trend in the American art society of the 1960's and 1970's. Painters and sculptors pruned each piece of art to its essence. Art should be pure and abstract, objective and anonymous, freed from decoration and expression.
Minimal painting was monochrome and created through mathematic patterns and lines. Still, it could call for a sense of sublimity. Minimal sculptors made use of industrial processes and materials like steel and fluorescent pipes to create geometric shapes, often in series. This art movement would not have illusionist characteristics, but asks for a physical experience by the art spectator.
The minimal art movement is considered a reaction to the emotion-packed abstract expressionism, which dominated modern art in the 1950's. The best-known foremen of minimal art are Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Robert Ryman, Richard Serra and, of course, last but certainly not least, Frank Stella.