The Fundamentals of Abstract Painting You Should Know

Abstract painting is considered one of the purest forms of expression, allowing the creator to communicate freely, unconstrained by the forms of objective reality. This search and experimentation continued across many art movements, from the German Expressionists to the Cubists, so in this article you will briefly learn about the history of abstract painting, its most famous artists, and several artists from our gallery who have mastered abstraction.

A Brief History

In the 19th and 20th centuries, abstract painting was an attempt to break away from classical, traditional painting. Many of the first abstractionists had trained at traditional academies, learning classical realism, perspective, and shading, skills required for painting historical and mythological scenes.

As the 20th century began, many artists started to resist classical training and to create art that did not necessarily depict the reality we see. This new type of painting was regarded as "pure art," since the subject being painted came directly from the artist. Abstractionists experimented with new techniques, used pure, unexpected colors, reshaped the forms of reality, and rejected realistic, three-dimensional perspective.

Techniques of Abstract Painting and Its Most Famous Artists

German Expressionism and Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky, "Composition VII" (Photo: Ibiblio)

Abstractionists were most concerned with experimenting with color and stirring emotion. German Expressionism is characterized by a vivid palette, with colors linked to human feelings. The movement's most famous representative, Wassily Kandinsky, is often regarded as the first abstractionist. He became renowned for his combinations of color and for associating colors with emotions. Like many other artists, Kandinsky was convinced that music was also the purest form of abstract art, since its expression requires no forms from the real world. Kandinsky called his paintings "compositions."

Fauvism, Orphism, and Matisse, O'Keeffe, and Others

For abstract art, it was crucial to abandon three-dimensional perspective, and this is clearly seen in the works of the Fauvists and Orphists. Fauvism depicts its subjects in bold, pure colors, while Orphism is characterized more by patches of color than by concrete figures. Henri Matisse was the most famous Fauvist, and his works, such as "The Green Stripe" (The Green Stripe) (1905), distilled the style of the entire movement. The painting is a portrait of the artist's wife, whose facial skin is painted in green and yellow tones. Matisse abandoned not only three-dimensional perspective but also true-to-life colors. The vision he conveys to the viewer through the painting is grounded in feeling. Among the Orphists, Robert Delaunay is well known; his "Simultaneous Windows on the City" (Simultaneous Windows of the City) (1912) and "The First Disk" (The First Disk) (1912-1913) are composed of brushstrokes and patches of various colors. Georgia O'Keeffe is famous for her colorful, close-up depictions of flower blossoms, which are, in essence, abstractions as well.

Cubism, Malevich, and Mondrian

While earlier movements still retained at least a loose connection to reality, Cubism, by completely eliminating perspective, laid the foundations for purely abstract painting. Cubists were convinced that all the academic techniques used to depict reality as realistically as possible prevented the true essence of the subject from being revealed. They argued that a two-dimensional canvas should not be a "window" onto a realistic scene, and they sought to emphasize the flatness of the canvas. The Russian Suprematist Kazimir Malevich took abstraction to a new level by painting flat geometric shapes on a white background. Piet Mondrian created an impression of infinity by painting flat grids of squares.

Abstract Expressionism and Pollock, de Kooning, and Others

Abstract Expressionists arrived at abstraction by experimenting with movement. Their works are sometimes called "action paintings" because they document the artist's actions and movements, whether that meant walking around the canvas dripping paint, as Jackson Pollock did, or the aggressive brushstrokes of Willem de Kooning. Like other abstract movements, these artists emphasized the importance of color and the painting's relationship to their emotions rather than to the shapes of objects, choosing to depict not tangible reality but emotions, experiences, and ideas.