abstract art

1. A trend in painting and sculpture in the twentieth century. Abstract art seeks to break away from traditional representation of physical objects. It explores the relationships of forms and colors, whereas more traditional art represents the world in recognizable images.

Example Sentences

What the Nazis did not care for was largely contemporary and abstract art, the likes of Chagall and Dufy and Klee, to name a few.

From The Daily Beast

The Daily Pic: Leidy Churchman's video shows abstract art in the making.

From The Daily Beast

Tess Giberson deconstructs her knits until they are little more than fragile strands, turning them into a kind of abstract art.

From The Daily Beast

From pop rocks with an audio track to abstract art drizzled in syrup, restaurants are taking dessert way beyond coffee and cake.

From The Daily Beast

Wells and thousands of others have found an unexpected forum for abstract art, and Keck has found another market.

From The Daily Beast

The screen went into a beautiful burst of abstract art, and cleared, after a while, with Skordran Kirv looking out of it.

From Project Gutenberg

In the late 1960s the PCR was disturbed by the extent to which abstract art had blossomed despite party disapproval.

From Project Gutenberg

Nor can we draw the immediate inference that abstract art is inappropriate in a frame.

From Project Gutenberg

More About Abstract Art

What is abstract art?

Abstract art is art that doesn’t use recognizable depictions of physical objects. Instead, it uses colors, lines, and shapes to express its message.

When you think of art, you might think of a painting of a person like the Mona Lisa, a painting of a landscape, or a sculpture of a person. Abstract art doesn’t depict actual objects or physical locations. It more closely resembles a collection of colors, lines, and shapes used to represent objects or emotions.

As a formal style of art, abstract art is usually considered to have emerged in the early 1900s in the work of artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Herni Matisse. These artists used colors, forms, and shapes to represent complicated things like emotions and human spirituality. In the 1950s, artists, particularly painters, would use colors and brushstrokes to represent intense emotions, like anger and love. Abstract artists from this period include Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

Today, you are likely to see examples of abstract art in many museums and art galleries. It can be difficult to describe, but if you see a painting or sculpture that seems to be “random colors” or “a bunch of shapes,” it is most likely abstract art.

Why is abstract art important?

The phrase “abstract art” was used as early as the 1860s to describe different works of art. It combines the word abstract, which describes something that is not part of physical reality, and the word art, a complex word that refers to creative expression and aesthetic beauty. Abstract art expresses itself through colors and forms rather than actual depictions of reality.

Abstract art often faces passionate criticism unique to it. Many people who don’t have an artistic background or have only a passing interest in art consider abstract art not to be art at all or to be an artform that requires no skill or talent. While actual artists and art critics wouldn’t agree with these beliefs, abstract artists have had a wide range of opinions and thoughts on what abstract art even is.

Did you know … ?

In 2011, two psychologists performed an experiment to see if art students and people with no art experience could tell the difference between abstract art created by respected artists and finger paintings created by children and animals. Participants were right 60–70% of the time and often preferred the actual abstract art even when both choices were said to be made by respected artists.

What are real-life examples of abstract art?

Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock is an example of abstract art.

<img loading="lazy" src="https://www.jackson-pollock.org/images/paintings/blue-poles.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="429" />

Jackson-pollock.org

 

Abstract art is often memorable and sometimes baffling to many people.

I love abstract art…it makes me think

— Mack. (@_tevindevon_) May 5, 2012

Abstract art is so confusing. #scratchingmyhead

— Garrett Watson (@ArgyleLongJohns) June 21, 2012

What other words are related to abstract art?

• art
• abstract
• expressionism
• cubism
• surrealism

Quiz yourself!

True or False?

Abstract art doesn’t use recognizable depictions of physical objects.