This document summarizes key Abstract Expressionist artists and their techniques from the 1940s-1950s, including Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Franz Kline. It discusses their influences from Cubism, Surrealism, and Expressionism and how they pioneered gestural painting styles using bold brushstrokes and reworking canvas surfaces. It also notes how Abstract Expressionism later influenced movements like Neo-Expressionism, Pop Art, and Post-Painterly Abstraction.