Abstract Art

   Abstract art is a form of art which uses a visual language of form, art, and color instead of straightforward depictions of images. Abstract paintings are symbolic rather than literal. The imagery depicted on abstract paintings are commonly geometric abstractions, either for decorative or symbolic purposes.

Abstract art has been present for a long time. They have always been the designs on native art, such as vases and other pottery. However, today's people traces the origin of abstract art to 1910, when Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque invented cubism. Five years later, pure abstract art surfaced with the works of Piet Mondrian. The Russian style of abstraction such as construtivism and suprematism also came into play.

Though cubism was partly based on native art, it is the start of painters actually using abstract elements deliberately. In the 19th century when painters feel that classic art has surpassed its usefulness, they began emphasis on technique. And since at that time, art has lost luster from inspiration and innovation, art was given a breath of fresh air with the use of abstract elements.

Abstract drawing is a form of expressing thoughts without creating a realistic image on canvas or paper. They may be just colors blended together to suggest a mood or shades of colors brought together to express emotion. Abstract drawing can be created by simply sweeping lines or brush strokes on paper with no particular organization. this creates a dramatic ambience, suitable to express emotions. This may also be done by drawing a real figure, but without involving a lot of detail. The image is depicted with the use of outlines and shadows, blended together and the edges blurred. Despite the lack of detail, the overall design is still clearly detected, but with a hint of surreality.

Abstract sculpture is a form of art where art and mathematics meet. They may be small sculptures set on pedestals or sculptures done in monumental scales. Most often, abstract sculpture is seen in large areas, such as malls and parks. They may be built with metal twisted together to form a larger picture or wires crossed to form a shape and intertwined with more abstract elements.

Abstract art, however, does not only come in the form of abstract paintings, abstract drawings, or abstract sculpture. It can also be a form of dance. Abstract dance is a term loosely used to describe a dance without plot or character. In abstract dance, the choreographer does not use a story as a basis, instead, he uses the dancers' consecutive movement and interaction.

Abstract dance is more focused on the awareness of the body's movements, not on what the movements actually say. The continuous flow of movements and the dancers' interaction with each other then connects everything in a symbolic interpretation of the dance's message.

Many abstract art are heavily symbolic. Despite the lack of solid imagery, the paintings or drawings are laden with meaning. Each geometric figure is laced with a particular symbolism that when taken as a whole, gives a strong and clear message to the beholder.

Pablo Picasso is the best example to show the concept of abstract art. His most known painting, named “Guernica”, shows Pablo Picasso’s vision of war. This painting is the symbol of the abstract art. The exaggerating importance that Picasso gives to some irrelevant details shows that Picasso has an abstract definition of war. This is what made Picasso one of the most recognized abstract artists of all time.

Romanticism, Impressionism and Expressionism contributed to the development of the abstract art, which appeared in the 19th century. We can say that the real abstract art started in the end of the 19th century, around 1875. Artists like Picasso, Whistler or John Constable started to place more importance on visual sensation instead of the object depiction. It was an objective interest in what is seen.

The 20th century was marked by the development of the modern art, somehow connected to the abstract art. Artists like Vincent Van Gogh or Paul Cézanne were the main artists that “created” the modern art. In this century Picasso made his first cubic painting. A painting in which nature can be reduced to three simple solids, which are the cube, the sphere and the cone. The painting title was “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” and it was painted in 1907.

We can then conclude that the abstract art was the beginning of today’s art, the art that we all call the modern art. It was called abstract art because ideas like the ones that Leonardo Da Vinci had were almost impossible and forbidden ideas in his time. When we reached to the 20th century people started to be more open to new and strange ideas. That’s how the definition of modern art appeared. A art that was considered an abstract one centuries ago is now an amazing art because of it’s imaginative and complex shape of reality