Abstract Art (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what abstract art is and how this expression became an artistic movement. Also, its characteristics and classification.

What is abstract art?

Abstract art is a form of expression that proposes a language based on shapes, colors, lines, gestures and textures instead of representing concrete figures from the visible world (as figurative art does).

Abstract forms are as old and as diverse as art itself: there is a record of them since the first cave paintings and their presence is frequent in many manifestations from all periods around the world.

Abstract art as a defined artistic proposal or current appears in the first decade of the 20th century, after the questioning of the Western artistic tradition that had begun in the 19th century.

Disagreement with the aesthetic values inherited from the Renaissance promoted the rejection of classical rules and dismantled the idea that artistic creation should be subject to laws or canons. Instead, he proposed a visual language based on other, more free, intuitive or introspective forms of perception.

Abstractionists sought to leave behind the recognizable realm of forms and pursue “pure” non-representational art. According to the painter and first abstractionist theorist Vasili Kandinsky (1866-1944), the connection with art is spiritual and emotional, both in the creator and in the viewer. By moving away from figurative references (that is, from representations of recognizable shapes), Abstract art incorporates and enhances notions such as freedom, autonomy, experience and intuition.

Within abstract art there is a great diversity of trends and styles that can be synthesized into two major orientations: one subjectivist and expressive (lyrical abstractionism, abstract expressionism), and another geometric, more rationalist one (geometric abstraction, minimalism). From these two great positions derived very diverse proposals, currents and styles that spanned the entire 20th century and have widely influenced subsequent art.

Characteristics of abstract art

Although abstract art includes a significant number of trends, proposals and styles, its characteristics can be summarized in:

Moving away from figuration. It does not look for its references in visual reality. Try to express ideas and emotions or awaken sensory experiences through the elements of the composition (points, lines, colors, textures and shapes).
creative freedom. It tries to free itself from the traditional rules of art and to open experimentation to techniques, materials and compositional elements.
Focus on subjectivity. Interprets art as a subjective experience rather than a technical one. That is, it stimulates the idea that both the creation and perception of a work are intimate events in which sensations, memories, beliefs and personal emotions intervene.

Origin of abstract art

abstract art does not have a single origin. It was born from progressive challenges to the rigid canons that had conditioned artistic creation since the Renaissance.

These antecedents can be traced back to the 19th century in the proposals of the impressionists and post-impressionists about the perception of light, the use of color and the expression of emotions. Later came the vibrant shapes and colors of Fauvism and the geometric decomposition of Cubism.

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All of these elements had an important impact on the artists who shaped abstract art.

The Lithuanian Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis created works that would later be considered abstract in the early years of the 20th century. However, the first works of modern abstractionism that we have news of today remained unknown until 1986: they were made by the Swedish painter Hilma af Klint (1862-1944), who developed a new visual language based on her spiritual experience.

Klint arrived at an abstraction of pure geometric forms and also had the lucidity to glimpse that his work would not be understood at the time, which is why he asked that his works not be exhibited until 20 years after his death.

In 1910, Vasili Kandinsky (1866-1944) created the work First abstract watercolor. A year later he wrote “On the Spiritual in Art”, a theoretical work in which he analyzed the spiritual quality of shapes and colors and deployed the principles of abstract art.

Around 1912, Kandisnky established the foundations of abstract art as a coherent, modern and international artistic movement, which he called “lyrical abstractionism.” This movement was later joined by various explorations of an art of “pure” (non-representative) forms, in Russia, France and later Germany and the United States.

Types of abstract art

Abstract art is a very broad form of expression and can encompass many lines, trends and currents. The main ones are:

lyrical abstractionism

Lyrical abstractionism It is considered the trend that marks the beginning of abstract art. It appeals to intuitive search and seeks a connection with spirituality and the world of the artist through the use of curved shapes, vibrant colors and organic shapes. The compositions are energetic and vibrant.

abstract expressionism

Abstract Expressionism originated in the United States in the 1940s. Its most notable characteristics are spontaneity and energetic and emotional gestures as well as the technical innovations of the dripping (letting the paint fall in drops) and the action painting (spread the paint vigorously, with semi-automatic movements made with the whole body).

Geometric abstraction

Geometric is a type of rationalist abstraction. It is based on the use of basic geometric shapes (squares, triangles, circles) and lines. The compositions in this style are balanced and harmonious.

Informalism

From the rejection of traditional art forms, informalism introduced experimentation with materials and the use of unconventional techniques. It developed in parallel with American abstract expressionism and had an important impact in Latin America.

kineticism

Kineticism or kinetic art is characterized by movement which can be obtained through optical effects, mobile elements or effects produced by the interaction between viewer and work. Explore elements of the physical world such as light, color and time. It is one of the most famous artistic currents in current art.

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References

Gombrich, E. H. (1997). The history of art. Phaidon.
Kandinsky, W. (2020). Of the spiritual in art: contribution to the analysis of pictorial elements. Paidós.
The painter who anticipated abstraction. (2019, January 22). The Vanguard. https://www.lavanguardia.com/
Sandler, I., & Javier Sánchez García-Gutiérrez. (1996). The triumph of North American painting: history of abstract expressionism. Alliance.
Tate. (2017). Abstract Art – Art Term | tate. https://www.tate.org.uk/