Abstract art

Abstract art uses <a href="/facts/Visual_language/KfbsWqmb">visual language</a> of shape, form, color and line to create a <a href="/facts/Composition_(visual_arts)/ts4RRPV8">composition</a> which may exist with a degree of independence from <a href="/facts/Visual_reference/pLmVxBjJ">visual references</a> in the world. Abstract art, non-figurative art, non-objective art, and non-representational art are all closely related terms. They have similar, but perhaps not identical, meanings.
<a href="/facts/Western_art/LNbzu6l1">Western art</a> had been, from the <a href="/facts/Renaissance/4D9Bc6KU">Renaissance</a> up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of <a href="/facts/Perspective_(graphical)/zkNx7Wpf">perspective</a> and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in <a href="/facts/Technology/9Uav5WVR">technology</a>, <a href="/facts/Science/IJoaD7rs">science</a> and <a href="/facts/Philosophy/zAH5PVD6">philosophy</a>. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time.
Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of <a href="/facts/Image/hbjEdTXK">imagery</a> in art. This departure from accurate representation can be slight, partial, or complete. Abstraction exists along a continuum. Even art that aims for verisimilitude of the highest degree can be said to be abstract, at least theoretically, since perfect representation is impossible. Artwork which takes liberties, e.g. altering color or form in ways that are conspicuous, can be said to be partially abstract. Total abstraction bears no trace of any reference to anything recognizable. In <a href="/facts/Geometric_abstraction/9psWEHFL">geometric abstraction</a>, for instance, one is unlikely to find references to naturalistic entities. <a href="/facts/Figurative_art/jq3VT7ew">Figurative art</a> and total abstraction are almost <a href="/facts/Mutually_exclusive_events/v139z4dJ">mutually exclusive</a>. But figurative and <a href="/facts/Representation_(arts)/LEGyxyzq">representational</a> (or <a href="/facts/Realism_(visual_arts)/qn1xtzkf">realistic</a>) art often contain partial abstraction.
Both geometric abstraction and <a href="/facts/Lyrical_abstraction/7NlUqYfe">lyrical abstraction</a> are often totally abstract. Among the very numerous <a href="/facts/Art_movements/StI4qAXb">art movements</a> that embody partial abstraction would be for instance <a href="/facts/Fauvism/HTGTXBLl">fauvism</a> in which color is conspicuously and deliberately altered vis-a-vis reality, and <a href="/facts/Cubism/wmpXU7Tn">cubism</a>, which alters the forms of the real-life entities depicted.

Abstract art open-in-new

Abstract art