Gorky, Arshile (1904-1948), American painter of Armenian birth, whose work combined geometric abstraction and quasi-figurative Surrealism. In 1920 Gorky (born Vosdanig Adoian) emigrated to the United States and after some years of study settled in New York in 1925. His earliest work showed the influence of Pablo Picasso. After 1939, his works were influenced by the European Surrealists and by the abstract work of Wassily Kandinsky and Joan Miró. By bringing these styles to America he exerted great influence on later American painting. In particular he had an effect on the developing Abstract Expressionist style of his contemporaries Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning; he shared a studio with the latter in the late 1930s. Gorky's works, such as Agony (1947, Museum of Modern Art, New York) and Betrothal II (1947, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York), expressive of his subconscious fantasies, are characterized by calligraphic line and brilliant hues keyed to a dominant background colour.