Arshile Gorky: The Breakthrough YearsArshile Gorky (1904 1948) is recognized as one of the most crucial and intriguing figures in the early shaping of Abstract Expressionism. Gorky pioneered a complex vocabulary of forms by fusing landscapes remembered from his childhood home in Armenia with surrealist imagery and abstract plumes of color. In so doing, he helped create a distinctly new vision for painting, leading American art into one of the most experimental periods in its history.