Alongside geometrical abstraction, an approach to abstraction gained in importance that focused on the direct expression of a spontaneous emotion. A gestural painting style with an uncontrolled flow of the paint is characteristic of artists such as Jackson Pollock and Sam Francis. This style of painting became known as Abstract Expressionism in the United States while various terms were employed in Europe, for example Informalism and Tachisme. As different the works by artists like Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Karl Otto Götz, Karl Fred Dahmen, Karel Appel and Asger Jorn are, they share the striving for a means of artistic expression that directs its gaze to the origins.