Arshile Gorky (; born
Vostanik Manoug Adoian, ; April 15, 1904 – July 21, 1948) was an Armenian born
American painter, who had a seminal influence on
Abstract Expressionism. He spent most his life as a national of the United States. Along with
Rothko,
Jackson Pollock and
Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky has been hailed as one of the most powerful American painters of the 20th century. As such, his works were often speculated to have been informed by the suffering and loss he experienced of the
Armenian Genocide.