Minimalism

In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that emerged in the post-World War II era in Western art. It is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism. The movement anticipated various post-minimalist practices in contemporary art that extended or critically reflected on minimalism's original aims. Minimalism emphasized reducing art to its essentials, focusing on the object itself and the viewer's experience with as little mediation from the artist as possible. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella.

Minimalism had appeared as a concept with different names in history. It also appeared in religious doctrines as in Buddhism and in the 6th century Islam, where its founder Muhammad practiced and preached to live a simple life. The Caliph Umar, despite being the king of the biggest empire of that time chose to live with bare minimum.

Minimalism in music features methods like repetition and gradual variation, such as the works of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Julius Eastman and John Adams. The term is sometimes used to describe the plays and novels of Samuel Beckett, the films of Robert Bresson, the stories of Raymond Carver, and the automobile designs of Colin Chapman. In recent years, minimalism has come to refer to anything or anyone that is sparse or reduced to its essentials.