Donald Judd's artistic journey in the 1940s was markedly different from the minimalist aesthetic he would later pioneer in the 1960s and beyond. During this decade, Judd was still in the formative stages of his education and artistic development. Born in 1928, he would have been a teenager for most of the 1940s, a period during which he was more likely to be influenced by his surroundings, early education, and the prevailing art movements of the time than to be producing the large-scale works he is known for today. The late 1940s marked the beginning of Judd's formal education in the arts and his initial explorations into painting. After serving in the United States Army, Judd attended the College of William and Mary before transferring to Columbia University to study philosophy. It was also during this time that he took art classes at the Art Students League in New York. This early education provided Judd with a foundation in traditional art forms and critical theory, which would later underpin his rejection of representational art in favor of exploring the object as object, free from illusion or metaphor​ (www.wikiart.org)​​ (MOMA)​. While there is limited documentation of Judd's artistic output from the 1940s, this era is crucial for understanding his later work. The post-war period was a time of significant artistic innovation, with Abstract Expressionism coming to the fore in the United States. Artists were exploring new ways of seeing and representing the world, questioning traditional modes of art-making, and laying the groundwork for the minimalist movement that Judd would eventually help define. Although Judd would move away from the expressive, gestural styles characteristic of Abstract Expressionism, the movement's emphasis on the canvas as an arena in which to act—a perspective that foregrounds the materiality of the medium—can be seen as a precursor to Judd's own emphasis on the physical presence of his works and their occupation of real space​ (www.wikiart.org)​​ (MOMA)​. Donald Judd's art in the 1940s represents a period of learning and exploration before he established his signature minimalist style. His early engagement with traditional art education and exposure to the dominant art movements of the time were essential components of his development as an artist. Judd's eventual move towards minimalism and his focus on the autonomy of the object were informed by a deep understanding of art history and theory, as well as a desire to break with the past and create something entirely new​ (www.wikiart.org)​​ (MOMA)​.