It really depends on what you are trying to do. Many people choose something like SDL (a simple directmedia layer), which is an abstraction of OpenGL / DirectDraw / GDI (and much more), but it still looks low-level. It works with C ++.
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform multimedia library designed to provide low-level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, 3D equipment via OpenGL and a 2D video frame buffer. It uses MPEG playback software, emulators and many popular games, including the award-winning Linux port "Civilization: Call To Power."
http://www.libsdl.org/
One of the advantages of choosing a very popular library such as this one is that the TON example works there.