Norman Bluhm (Chicago, 1921 – East Wallingford, 1999) was a significant figure of American Abstract Expressionism and part of the second generation of the New York School.

He initially trained in architecture at the Armour Institute of Technology under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, an experience that deeply influenced the spatial structure of his painting.

After World War II, he moved to Paris, where he engaged with the European avant-garde. Returning to New York in 1956, he participated in the postwar American painting scene, developing an independent language.

His work is characterized by a strong gestural component, a dynamic use of color, and a compositional structure in which energy and control coexist.

Throughout his career, he collaborated with the poet Frank O’Hara on the Poem-Paintings, expanding the dialogue between visual art and writing.

Through a coherent and recognizable practice, Bluhm contributed to the renewal of abstract painting in the second half of the twentieth century.