Ad Reinhardt was an American painter best known for his involvement in the abstract painting and Minimalist movements. Reinhardt studied art history at Columbia University and attended the National Academy of Design, the American Artists' School, and the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University.

In 1937, he joined the American Abstract Artists group. During the Depression he, like many American artists, worked for the WPA on the Federal Art Project. He experimented with cubism and abstraction before abandoning both styles for minimalism. His early paintings consisted of small-scale still lifes and representational subjects done in a cubist style. These paintings were far from the abstract style for which Reinhardt became acclaimed. From approximately 1940 forward, Reinhardt only produced non-representational subjects. While Reinhardt’s early subjects are highly rare, they are less desirable to collectors of Reinhardt’s minimalist work. Reinhardt was a prominent figure in the New York contemporary art scene and triumphed the process of painting itself. He is best known for his monochromatic paintings of the 1960s.

His works are held in the museum collections of the Butler Institute of American Art, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh/Carnegie Institute, Frederick R Weisman Art Museum, Georgia Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art-Chicago, National Gallery of Art, Neuberger Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Baltimore Museum of Art, among others.