We explain what abstract art is and how this type of expression emerged. Also, its characteristics and main representatives.
Abstract art sought to separate itself from reality and manifest itself spontaneously.
What is abstract art?
Abstract art is a style of artistic expression that It is characterized by representing concepts abstracted from reality or independent of what is recognizable by the senses, through freedom, irrationality and the diversity of forms, lines and colors. That is, it is a subjective art that does not accurately or figuratively represent visual reality that the human being perceives.
It emerged around 1900 and was the axis of modern art that encompassed various artistic movements, such as cubism, surrealism and De Stijl. Abstract art allows the generation of different interpretations or points of view depending on the recipient because it does not seek to achieve perfection of the line or credible compositions.
It is considered an art that reaches another dimension of morality and spirituality, because it expresses emotions and sensations separate from logic and objectivity.
See also: Neoclassical art
Origin of abstract art
Swedish artist Hilma af Klint was one of the pioneers of the abstract movement.
The origin of the use of abstraction as a mode of artistic manifestation had its first manifestations between 1875 and 1905 with the post-impressionist movement that emerged in France, which rejected the limitations that impressionism entailed and attempted to represent emotions, thus leaving aside some aspects of figurative reality.
abstract art It became evident in 1906 with the first publications of the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862 – 1944). She is considered the pioneer of abstract art because she created more than a thousand works before those published by Wassily Kandinsky (1866 – 1944), long considered the precursor or “father” of abstract art.
Klint studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, one of the few centers at the time that admitted women. Her academic knowledge added to her innate interest in spirituality came together in art and formed her personal touch.
At that time, everything related to the esoteric was not well seen, even more so if it came from a woman (who could be considered witch). That, added to the patriarchal society, contributed to the artist not standing out.
Around 1925, Klint abandoned painting to dedicate herself to theosophy (a religion made up of various doctrines), because abstract art was established, but very few recognized her name or her work. It was from 1986 that his work gained worldwide prominence. and Klint was recognized as the true precursor of abstract art.
However, not many were interested in changing art history and continued to recognize only Kandinsky as one of the main pioneers. Kandinsky introduced abstract art in 1911 in Germany through the publication of the book titled On the spiritual in art.
In his book he explained the symbolic relationship between inner impulses and their manifestation through shapes, lines and colours. Shortly after the Second World War (1939 – 1945) abstract art was accepted as part of modern art painting and sculpture worldwide.
Characteristics of abstract art
Abstract art is characterized by:
- Represent objects and scenes far from reality and the figurative notion that is known through the senses.
- Propose a new reality independent of nature and logic.
- Manifest the desire to get away from realitywhich was experienced as a time of crisis, uncertainty and political and social disorder.
- Represent subjectivity and spontaneity of the artist, which causes ambiguity in the recipient’s perception.
- Manifest the consciousness and subconscious of the artistthrough the use of shapes, lines and colors in a spontaneous and improvised way.
- Differentiate yourself from the credible style that applied the previous movements, such as the Renaissance or the Baroque, in which the forms were as perfectly possible, real and figurative.
- Use contrasting colorsintense, strokes that vary in proportion and distorted shapes.
abstract art movements
Surrealism sought to express the dreams, fantasies and unconscious of the human being.
Among the main movements that were part of abstract art, the following stand out:
- Cubism. It emerged in the 20th century to break with the Renaissance style. He sought to decompose natural forms, through geometric figures and lines, to rework them with the intention of moving them away from realistic representation.
- Dadaism. It emerged in 1906 in Switzerland by a group of artists after the First World War. The aim was to provoke changes and create representations against the traditional concept of beauty. The word Dadaism comes from French and refers to the babbling of infants with the sound Dadaist, that refers to fantasy or something far from reality.
- Fauvism. It emerged in France around 1908 and was particularly evident in painting. It was characterized by the use of strident colors and aggressive lines. The name comes from the French word for “art”. fauv It means “fierce” in reference to the intense style.
- Surrealism. It emerged in France around 1924, during the post-war period, due to the need to investigate and express the deepest aspects of the human being through the representation of dreams, fantasies and the unconscious. It was a current that was influenced by the theory of psychoanalysis proposed by Sigmund Freud.
- Neoplasticism. It emerged in 1917 in the Netherlands by the artist Piet Mondrian. It was a movement that sought to renew aesthetics to represent the totality of reality through pure abstraction, reduced to the essential in terms of form and color. It was also known as De Stijl which comes from Dutch and means “Of Style”, which was the name of a Dutch magazine that applied the movement to various disciplines such as painting, sculpture, architecture, design, poetry, music, among others.
Representatives of abstract art
Among the main representatives of abstract art are:
- Franz Marc (1880 – 1916). He was a German painter whose works reflected his interest in primitive peoples, children and the mentally ill. He died young, in 1916, having enlisted as a military volunteer during the First World War (1914 – 1918).
- Georges Braque (1882 – 1963). He was a French painter and sculptor who stood out for the cubist style. Through collage techniques, with the addition of numbers and letters, he managed to generate diverse perspectives in the representations of him.
- Hilma af Klint (1862 – 1944). She was a Swedish artist, a pioneer of abstract art, who published her first paintings in 1906 (before Kandinsky in 1911). However, due to the context of patriarchal society and the fact that women with spiritual ideas were considered witcheshis work did not have an impact until the end of the 20th century.
- Jackson Pollock (1912 – 1956). He was an American painter considered one of the most recognized representatives of abstract expressionism. His technique was innovative, because he replaced the easel and began to paint directly with the canvas on the floor or on a wall and threw uniform lines or drips of paint.
- Joan Miró (1893 – 1983). He was a Spanish painter and sculptor who expressed a strong interest in the subconscious and the child’s view of the world through the imagination. He was influenced by older artistic styles, such as cave paintings.
- Jean Dubuffet (1901 – 1985). He was a French painter who was inspired by the art of children and crazy people, that is, of personalities who were not part of the artistic environment, with the aim of finding new ways of expressing themselves. He considered it as raw art.
- Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881 – 1973). He was a Spanish painter and sculptor who created cubism, along with George Braque. He is considered one of the most recognized artists of the 20th century who managed to produce more than 43,000 works of art.
- Piet Mondrian (1872 – 1944). He was a Dutch painter and one of the pioneers of abstract art and a member of the De Stijl movement along with Theo van Doesburg.
- Theo van Doesburg (1883 – 1931). He was a Dutch painter, poet and architect who taught himself, without attending an art institution. He was influenced by Kandinsky, by the concept that true art went beyond mental and personal abstraction and by the idea of reducing forms through the simplest abstraction, as in neoplasticism or De Stijl.
- Vassily Kandinsky (1866 – 1944). He was a Russian painter and writer considered one of the main pioneers of the abstract movement. He was an influential theorist and practitioner: his first published book was Of the spiritual in art and his paintings were based on abstraction and expressionism.
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