A kind of abstract art. Abstract art

Abstractionism (lat. abstractio- removal, distraction) or non-figurative art- a direction of art that abandoned the representation of forms approximate to reality in painting and sculpture. One of the goals of abstractionism is to achieve “harmonization” by depicting certain color combinations and geometric shapes, causing the viewer to feel the completeness and completeness of the composition. Prominent figures: Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov, Piet Mondrian.

Story

Abstractionism(art under the sign of "zero forms", non-objective art) - an artistic direction that was formed in the art of the first half of the 20th century, completely refusing to reproduce the forms of the real visible world. The founders of abstractionism are considered to be V. Kandinsky , P. Mondrian And K. Malevich.

V. Kandinsky created his own type of abstract painting, freeing from any signs of objectivity the spots of the Impressionists and the "wild". Piet Mondrian came to his pointlessness through the geometric stylization of nature, begun by Cezanne and the Cubists. The modernist trends of the 20th century, focused on abstractionism, completely depart from traditional principles, denying realism, but at the same time remain within the framework of art. The history of art with the advent of abstractionism experienced a revolution. But this revolution arose not by chance, but quite naturally, and was predicted by Plato! In his later work Philebus, he wrote about the beauty of lines, surfaces and spatial forms in themselves, independent of any imitation of visible objects, of any mimesis. This kind of geometric beauty, in contrast to the beauty of natural “irregular” forms, according to Plato, is not relative, but unconditional, absolute.

20th century and modern

After the 1st World War of 1914-18, the tendencies of abstract art often manifested themselves in individual works by representatives of Dadaism and Surrealism; at the same time, the desire to find application for non-pictorial forms in architecture, decorative art, and design was determined (experiments of the Style group and the Bauhaus). Several groups of abstract art ("Concrete Art", 1930; "Circle and Square", 1930; "Abstraction and Creativity", 1931), uniting artists of various nationalities and trends, arose in the early 30s, mainly in France. However, abstract art was not widespread at that time, and by the mid-30s. the groups broke up. During the years of World War II (1939–45), a school of so-called abstract expressionism arose in the United States (painters J. Pollock, M. Toby etc.), which developed after the war in many countries (under the name of tachisme or “formless art”) and proclaimed as its method “pure mental automatism” and subjective subconscious impulsiveness of creativity, the cult of unexpected color and texture combinations.

In the second half of the 50s, the art of installation, pop art, was born in the United States, which somewhat later glorified Andy Warhol with his endless replication of portraits of Marilyn Monroe and cans of dog food - collage abstractionism. In the visual arts of the 60s, the least aggressive, static form of abstraction, minimalism, became popular. At the same time Barnet Newman, founder of American geometric abstractionism along with A. Lieberman, A. Held And K.Noland successfully engaged in the further development of the ideas of Dutch neoplasticism and Russian Suprematism.

Another trend in American painting was called "chromatic" or "post-painting" abstractionism. Its representatives to some extent repelled Fauvism and Post-Impressionism. Rigid style, emphasized sharp outlines of works E. Kelly, J. Jungerman, F. Stella gradually gave way to painting of a contemplative melancholic warehouse. In the 1970s and 1980s, American painting returned to figurative art. Moreover, such an extreme manifestation of it as photorealism has become widespread. Most art historians agree that the 70s is the moment of truth for American art, since during this period it finally freed itself from European influence and became purely American. However, despite the return of traditional forms and genres, from portraiture to historical painting, abstract art has not disappeared either.

Paintings, works of "non-fine" art were created as before, since the return to realism in the United States did not overcome abstractionism as such, but its canonization, the ban on figurative art, which was identified primarily with our social realism, and therefore could not be considered odious in a "free democratic" society, a ban on "low" genres, on the social functions of art. At the same time, the style of abstract painting acquired a certain softness, which it lacked before - the streamlining of volumes, the blurring of contours, the richness of halftones, subtle color solutions ( E.Murray, G.Stefan, L.Rivers, M.Morley, L.Chese, A.Bialobrod).

All these trends laid the foundation for the development of modern abstractionism. In creativity there can be nothing frozen, final, since this would be death for him. But no matter what paths abstractionism takes, no matter what transformations it undergoes, its essence always remains unchanged. It lies in the fact that abstractionism in fine art is the most accessible and noble way to capture personal being, and in a form that is most adequate, like a facsimile print. At the same time, abstractionism is a direct realization of freedom.

Directions

In abstractionism, two clear directions can be distinguished: geometric abstraction, based mainly on clearly defined configurations (Malevich, Mondrian), and lyrical abstraction, in which the composition is organized from freely flowing forms (Kandinsky). Also in abstractionism there are several other major independent trends.

Cubism

An avant-garde trend in the visual arts, which originated at the beginning of the 20th century and is characterized by the use of emphatically conditional geometric shapes, the desire to “split” real objects into stereometric primitives.

Rayonism (Luchism)

Direction in abstract art of the 1910s, based on the shift of light spectra and light transmission. The idea of ​​the emergence of forms from the "crossing of the reflected rays of various objects" is characteristic, since a person actually perceives not the object itself, but "the sum of the rays coming from the light source, reflected from the object."

neoplasticism

The designation of the direction of abstract art, which existed in 1917-1928. in Holland and united artists grouped around the magazine "De Stijl" ("Style"). Characterized by clear rectangular shapes in architecture and abstract painting in the layout of large rectangular planes, painted in the primary colors of the spectrum.

Orphism

Direction in French painting of the 1910s. Artists-orphists sought to express the dynamics of movement and the musicality of rhythms with the help of "regularities" of the interpenetration of the primary colors of the spectrum and the intersection of curvilinear surfaces.

Suprematism

Direction in avant-garde art, founded in the 1910s. Malevich. It was expressed in combinations of multi-colored planes of the simplest geometric outlines. The combination of multi-colored geometric figures forms balanced asymmetric Suprematist compositions permeated with internal movement.

Tachisme

The trend in Western European abstractionism of the 1950s and 60s, which was most widespread in the USA. It is a painting with spots that do not recreate images of reality, but express the unconscious activity of the artist. Strokes, lines and spots in tachisme are applied to the canvas with quick hand movements without a premeditated plan.

abstract expressionism

The movement of artists who paint quickly and on large canvases, using non-geometric strokes, large brushes, sometimes dripping paint onto the canvas, to bring out the emotions to the fullest. The expressive method of painting here is often as important as the painting itself.

Abstractionism in the interior

Recently, abstract art has begun to move from the paintings of artists to the cozy interior of the house, updating it favorably. The minimalist style with the use of clear forms, sometimes quite unusual, makes the room unusual and interesting. But it's easy to go overboard with color. Consider the combination of orange in such an interior style.

White best dilutes rich orange, and, as it were, cools it. Orange color makes the room get hotter, so not much; not prevent. The emphasis should be on furniture or its design, for example, an orange bedspread. In this case, white walls will drown out the brightness of the color, but leave the room colorful. In this case, paintings of the same range will serve as an excellent addition - the main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise there will be problems with sleep.

The combination of orange and blue colors is detrimental to any room, if it does not apply to the nursery. If you choose not bright shades, then they will successfully harmonize with each other, add mood, and will not adversely affect even hyperactive children.

Orange goes well with green, creating the effect of a tangerine tree and a chocolate tint. Brown is a color that varies from warm to cold, so it perfectly normalizes the overall temperature of the room. In addition, this combination of colors is suitable for the kitchen and living room, where you need to create an atmosphere, but not overload the interior. Having decorated the walls in white and chocolate colors, you can safely put an orange chair or hang a bright picture with a rich tangerine color. While you are in such a room, you will have a great mood and a desire to do as many things as possible.

Paintings by famous abstract artists

Kandinsky was one of the pioneers of abstract art. He began his search in impressionism, and only then came to the style of abstractionism. In his work, he exploited the relationship between color and form to create an aesthetic experience that embraced both the vision and the emotions of the audience. He believed that complete abstraction gives room for deep, transcendent expression, and copying reality only interferes with this process.

Painting was deeply spiritual for Kandinsky. He sought to convey the depth of human emotion through a universal visual language of abstract shapes and colors that would transcend physical and cultural boundaries. He saw abstractionism as an ideal visual mode that can express the artist's "inner need" and convey human ideas and emotions. He considered himself a prophet whose mission is to share these ideals with the world, for the benefit of society.

Hidden in bright colors and clear black lines depict several Cossacks with spears, as well as boats, figures and a castle on a hilltop. As in many paintings from this period, it represents an apocalyptic battle that will lead to eternal peace.

In order to facilitate the development of a non-objective style of painting, as described in his On the Spiritual in Art (1912), Kandinsky reduces objects to pictographic symbols. By removing most of the references to the outside world, Kandinsky expressed his vision in a more universal way, translating the spiritual essence of the subject through all these forms into a visual language. Many of these symbolic figures were repeated and refined in his later work, becoming even more abstract.

Kazimir Malevich

Malevich's ideas about form and meaning in art somehow lead to a concentration on the theory of style abstractionism. Malevich worked with different styles in painting, but most of all he was focused on the study of pure geometric shapes (squares, triangles, circles) and their relationship to each other in the pictorial space. Through his contacts in the West, Malevich was able to convey his ideas about painting to artist friends in Europe and the United States, and thus profoundly influence the evolution of contemporary art.

"Black Square" (1915)

The iconic painting "Black Square" was first shown by Malevich at an exhibition in Petrograd in 1915. This work embodies the theoretical principles of Suprematism developed by Malevich in his essay "From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism: New Realism in Painting".

On the canvas in front of the viewer is an abstract form drawn on a white background in the form of a black square - it is the only element of the composition. Even though the painting seems simple, there are elements such as fingerprints, brush strokes showing through the black layers of paint.

For Malevich, the square means feelings, and the white one means emptiness, nothing. He saw the black square as a godlike presence, an icon, as if it could become a new sacred image for non-objective art. Even at the exhibition, this picture was placed in the place where an icon is usually placed in a Russian house.

Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian, one of the founders of the Dutch De Stijl movement, is recognized for the purity of his abstractions and methodical practice. He rather radically simplified the elements of his paintings in order to display what he saw not directly, but figuratively, and to create a clear and universal aesthetic language in his canvases. In his most famous paintings from the 1920s, Mondrian reduces forms to lines and rectangles, and the palette to the simplest. The use of asymmetric balance became fundamental to the development of contemporary art, and his iconic abstract works continue to be influential in design and are familiar to popular culture to this day.

The "gray tree" is an example of Mondrian's early transition to the style abstractionism. The 3D tree is reduced to the simplest lines and planes, using only grays and blacks.

This painting is one of a series of works by Mondrian that took a more realistic approach, where, for example, trees are presented in a naturalistic way. While later pieces became increasingly abstract, for example, the lines of the tree are reduced until the shape of the tree is barely visible and secondary to the overall composition of vertical and horizontal lines. Here you can still see Mondrian's interest in abandoning the structured organization of lines. This move was significant for the development of Mondrian's pure abstraction.

Robert Delaunay

Delaunay was one of the earliest artists of the abstract style. His work influenced the development of this direction, based on the compositional tension that was caused by the contrast of colors. He quickly fell under the neo-impressionist color influence and very closely followed the color system of works in the style of abstractionism. He considered color and light to be the main tools with which you can influence the objectivity of the world.

By 1910, Delaunay had made his own contribution to cubism in the form of two series of paintings depicting cathedrals and the Eiffel Tower, which combined cubic forms, movement dynamics and bright colors. This new way of using color harmony helped separate the style from orthodox Cubism, called Orphism, and immediately influenced European artists. Delaunay's wife, the artist Sonia Turk-Delaunay, continued to paint in the same style.

Delaunay's main work is dedicated to the Eiffel Tower - the famous symbol of France. This is one of the most impressive of a series of eleven paintings dedicated to the Eiffel Tower between 1909 and 1911. It is painted bright red, which immediately distinguishes it from the dullness of the surrounding city. The impressive size of the canvas further enhances the grandeur of this building. Like a ghost, the tower rises above the surrounding houses, figuratively shaking the very foundations of the old order. Delaunay's painting conveys this feeling of boundless optimism, innocence and freshness of a time that has not yet witnessed two world wars.

Frantisek Kupka

Frantisek Kupka is a Czechoslovak artist who paints in the style abstractionism graduated from the Prague Academy of Arts. As a student, he primarily painted on patriotic themes and wrote historical compositions. His early works were more academic, however, his style evolved over the years and eventually evolved into abstract art. Written in a very realistic manner, even his early works contained mystical surreal themes and symbols, which was preserved when writing abstractions. Kupka believed that the artist and his work take part in a continuous creative activity, the nature of which is not limited, like an absolute.

"Amorpha. Fugue in two colors" (1907-1908)

Beginning in 1907-1908, Kupka began to paint a series of portraits of a girl holding a ball in her hand, as if she was about to play or dance with it. He then developed increasingly schematic representations of her, and eventually produced a series of completely abstract drawings. They were made in a limited palette of red, blue, black and white. In 1912, at the Salon d'Automne, one of these abstract works was first publicly exhibited in Paris.

Modern Abstractionists

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, artists, including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Kazemir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, have been experimenting with the forms of objects and their perception, and also questioning the canons existing in art. We have prepared a selection of the most famous modern abstract artists who have decided to push their boundaries of knowledge and create their own reality.

German artist David Schnel(David Schnell) likes to roam places that used to be dominated by nature, and now they are heaped with buildings of people - from playgrounds to factories and factories. Memories of these walks give birth to his bright abstract landscapes. Giving free rein to his imagination and memory, rather than photographs and videos, David Schnell creates paintings that resemble computer virtual reality or illustrations for science fiction books.

Creating her large-scale abstract paintings, the American artist Christine Baker(Kristin Baker) draws inspiration from the history of art and racing Nascar and Formula 1. At first, she gives volume to her work, applying several layers of acrylic paint and tape the silhouettes. Kristin then carefully peels it off, which reveals the underlying layers of paint and makes the surface of her paintings look like a multi-layered, multi-coloured collage. At the very last stage of the work, she scrapes off all the bumps, making her paintings look like they feel like an x-ray.

In her work, the Greek-born artist from Brooklyn, New York, Elena Anagnos(Eleanna Anagnos) explores aspects of everyday life that are often overlooked by people. In the course of her “dialogue with the canvas”, ordinary concepts acquire new meanings and facets: negative space becomes positive and small forms increase in size. Trying to breathe life into her paintings in this way, Eleanna tries to awaken the human mind, which has stopped asking questions and being open to something new.

Giving birth to bright splashes and smudges of paint on the canvas, an American artist Sara Spitler(Sarah Spitler) seeks to reflect chaos, disaster, imbalance and disorder in her work. She is attracted to these concepts, as they are beyond the control of a person. Therefore, their destructive power makes the abstract works of Sarah Spitler powerful, energetic and exciting. Besides. the resulting image on the canvas of ink, acrylic paints, graphite pencils and enamel emphasizes the ephemeral nature and relativity of what is happening around.

Drawing inspiration from the field of architecture, the artist from Vancouver, Canada, Jeff Dapner(Jeff Depner) creates layered abstract paintings made up of geometric shapes. In the artistic "chaos" he created, Jeff seeks harmony in color, form and composition. Each of the elements in his paintings are connected to each other and lead to the following: "My work explores the compositional structure [of a painting] through the relationships of colors in a chosen palette…". According to the artist, his paintings are "abstract signs" that should take viewers to a new, unconscious level.

One of the main trends in avant-garde art. The main principle of abstract art is the refusal to imitate the visible reality and operate with its elements in the process of creating a work. The object of art instead of the realities of the surrounding world becomes the tools of artistic creativity - color, line, form. The plot is replaced by a plastic idea. The role of the associative principle in the artistic process increases many times, and it also becomes possible to express the feelings and moods of the creator in abstracted images, cleared of the outer shell, which are able to concentrate the spiritual principle of phenomena and be its bearers (theoretical works of V.V. Kandinsky).

Random elements of abstraction can be identified in world art throughout its development, starting with rock paintings. But the origin of this style should be sought in the painting of the Impressionists, who tried to decompose color into separate elements. Fauvism consciously developed this trend, "revealing" the color, emphasizing its independence and making it the object of the image. Of the Fauvists, Franz Marc and Henri Matisse came closest to abstraction (his words are symptomatic: “all art is abstract”), French cubists (especially Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger) and Italian futurists (Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini) also moved along this path. . But none of them could or did not want to overcome the border of figurativeness. “We admit, however, that some reminder of existing forms should not be completely banished, at least at the present time” (A. Glaze, J. Metzinger. On Cubism. St. Petersburg, 1913, p. 14).

The first abstract works appeared in the late 1900s - early 1910s in the work of Kandinsky while working on the text "On the Spiritual in Art", and his "Picture with a Circle" (1911. NMG) is considered the first abstract painting. At this time, he says:<...>only that form is correct, which<...>materializes the content accordingly. All sorts of secondary considerations, and among them the correspondence of the form to the so-called "nature", i.e. external nature, are insignificant and harmful, since they distract from the only task of form - the embodiment of content. Form is a material expression of abstract content” (Content and form. 1910 // Kandinsky 2001. Vol. 1. P. 84).

At an early stage, abstract art in the person of Kandinsky absolutized color. In the study of color, practical and theoretical, Kandinsky developed the doctrine of color by Johann Wolfgang Goethe and laid the foundations for the theory of color in painting (among Russian artists, M.V. Matyushin, G.G. Klutsis, I.V. Klyun and others were engaged in color theory) .

In Russia, in 1912-1915, abstract painting systems of Luchism (M.F. Larionov, 1912) and Suprematism (K.S. Malevich, 1915) were created, which largely determined the further evolution of abstract art. Rapprochement with abstract art can be found in cubo-futurism and alogism. A breakthrough to abstraction was N.S. Goncharova's painting "Emptiness" (1914. State Tretyakov Gallery), but this theme did not find further development in the artist's work. Another unrealized aspect of Russian abstraction is the color painting by O.V. Rozanova (see: Non-Objective Art).

The Czech Frantisek Kupka, the Frenchmen Robert Delaunay and Jacques Villon, the Dutchman Piet Mondrian, the Americans Stanton McDonald-Wright and Morgan Russell followed their own paths to pictorial abstraction in the same years. The counter-reliefs of V.E. Tatlin (1914) were the first abstract spatial constructions.

The rejection of isomorphism and an appeal to the spiritual principle gave reason to associate abstract art with theosophy, anthroposophy, and even occultism. But the artists themselves did not express such ideas at the first stages of the development of abstract art.

After the First World War, abstract painting gradually gains a dominant position in Europe and becomes a universal artistic ideology. This is a powerful artistic movement, which in its aspirations goes far beyond the limits of pictorial and plastic tasks and demonstrates the ability to create aesthetic and philosophical systems and solve social problems (for example, Malevich’s “Suprematist City”, based on the principles of life-building). In the 1920s, on the basis of his ideology, such research institutes as the Bauhaus or Ginhuk arose. Constructivism also grew out of abstraction.

The Russian version of abstraction was called non-objective art.

Many of the principles and techniques of abstract art that became classics in the 20th century are widely used in design, theatrical and decorative arts, film, television, and computer graphics.

The concept of abstract art has changed over time. Until the 1910s, this term was used in relation to painting, where forms were depicted in a generalized and simplified way, i.e. "abstract", as compared to a more detailed or naturalistic depiction. In this sense, the term was mainly applied to decorative art or flattened compositions.

But since the 1910s, “abstract” refers to works where the form or composition is depicted from such an angle that the original subject changes almost beyond recognition. Most often, this term denotes a style of art that is based solely on the arrangement of visual elements - shapes, colors, structures, and it is not at all necessary that they have an initiating image in the material world.

The concept of meaning in abstract art (in both its meanings, earlier and later) is a complex issue that is constantly debated. Abstract forms can also refer to non-visual phenomena, such as love, speed, or the laws of physics, associating with a derivative entity (“essentialism”), with an imaginary or otherwise way of separating from the detailed, detailed and non-essential, random. Despite the absence of a representative subject, a huge expression can accumulate in an abstract work, and semantically filled elements, such as rhythm, repetition and color symbolism, indicate involvement in specific ideas or events outside the image itself.

Literature:

• M. Seuphor. L'Art abstrait, ses origins, ses premiers maîtres. Paris, 1949;
• M.Brion. L'art abstract. Paris, 1956; D. Vallier. L'art abstract. Paris, 1967;
• R.Capon. Introducing Abstract Painting. London, 1973;
• c. block. Geschichte der abstrakten Kunst. 1900–1960 Koln, 1975;
• M.Schapiro. Nature of Abstract Art (1937) // M.Schapiro. Modern Art. Selected Papers. New York, 1978;
• Towards a New Art: Essays on the Background to Abstract Painting 1910–1920. Ed. M.Compton. London, 1980;
• The Spiritual in Art. Abstract Painting 1890–1985. Los Angeles County Museum of Arts. 1986/1987;
• Text by M.Tuchman; B.Altshuler. The Avant-Garde in Exhibition. New Art in the 20th Century. New York, 1994;
• Abstraction in Russia. XX century. T. 1–2. Timing [Catalogue] St. Petersburg, 2001;
• Non-objectivity and abstraction. Sat. articles. Rep. ed. G.F. Kovalenko. M., 2011.;

abstract painting overcomes the eternal opposition of subject and object. In an abstract painting, as well as in a painting painted in a realistic style, there must be an object from which an abstraction is created by abstracting. But such a picture abolishes the distance between the object of contemplation and the contemplator himself.

There is an opinion that in real life there is neither a subject nor an object, they say, all this is a figment of the human imagination. Undoubtedly, human perception has a place to be. A person can see both, and an appetizing apple, and, say, a hardened table, but an abstract artist depicts not an object, but the very process of perceiving an object. And since in perception any person, one way or another, is guided by five external senses, then abstract painting is perceived precisely by these internal sensations.

How often people who are far from art do not understand abstract painting, considering it incomprehensible scribbles and a provocation that brings discord into the minds. They make fun of the creations of authors who do not strive to accurately depict the world around them.

What is abstractionism?

Opening up new opportunities for expressing their own thoughts and feelings, they abandoned the usual techniques, ceasing to copy reality. They believed that this art accustoms a person to a philosophical way of life. Painters were looking for a new language to express the emotions that overwhelmed them, and found it in colorful spots and clean lines that affect not the mind, but the soul.

Having become a symbol of a new era, it is a direction that has abandoned forms that are as close to reality as possible. Not everyone understands, it gave impetus to the development of cubism and expressionism. The main characteristic of abstractionism is non-objectivity, that is, there are no recognizable objects on the canvas, and the audience sees something incomprehensible and beyond the control of logic, which is beyond the bounds of the usual perception.

The most famous abstract artists and their paintings are a priceless treasure for mankind. Canvases painted in this style express the harmony of shapes, lines, color spots. Bright combinations have their own idea and meaning, despite the fact that it seems to the viewer that there is nothing in the works, except for bizarre blots. However, in abstraction, everything is subject to certain rules of expression.

"Father" of the new style

Wassily Kandinsky, a legendary figure in the art of the 20th century, is recognized as the founder of the unique style. The Russian painter with his work wanted to make the viewer feel the same as he does. It seems surprising, but an important event in the world of physics inspired the future artist to a new worldview. The discovery of the decomposition of the atom seriously influenced the formation of the most famous abstract artist.

“It turns out that everything can be decomposed into separate components, and this sensation echoed in me, like the destruction of the whole world,” said Kandinsky, who was an outstanding singer of the time of change. Just as physics opened up the microcosm, so did painting penetrate into the human soul.

Artist and philosopher

Gradually, the famous abstract artist in his work moves away from the detailing of his works and experiments with color. The sensitive philosopher sends light into the very depths of the human heart and creates canvases with strong emotional content, where his colors are compared with the notes of a beautiful melody. In the first place in the works of the author is not the plot of the canvas, but feelings. Kandinsky himself considered the human soul to be a multi-stringed piano, and compared the artist to a hand that, by pressing a certain key (color combination), vibrates it.

The master, who gives people hints to realize his creativity, is looking for harmony in chaos. He paints canvases where a thin but clear thread can be traced that connects abstraction with reality. For example, in the work "Improvisation 31" ("Sea Battle") in color spots, you can guess the images of boats: sailing ships on canvas resist the elements and rolling waves. So the author tried to tell about the eternal battle of man with the outside world.

American student

Famous abstract artists of the 20th century who worked in America are students of Kandinsky. His work had a huge impact on expressive abstractionism. The Armenian emigrant Arshile Gorki (Vozdanik Adoyan) created in a new style. He developed a special technique: he laid out white canvases on the floor and poured paint on them from buckets. When it hardened, the master scratched lines in it, making something like bas-reliefs.

Gorka's creations are full of bright colors. "The Aroma of Apricots in the Fields" is a typical canvas where sketches of flowers, fruits, insects are transformed into a single composition. The viewer feels the pulsation emanating from the work, done in bright orange and rich red tones.

Rotkovich and his unusual technique

When it comes to the most famous abstract artists, one cannot fail to mention Markus Rotkovich, a Jewish immigrant. The talented student of Gorka influenced the audience with the intensity and depth of colorful membranes: he superimposed two or three color rectangular spaces one above the other. And they seemed to pull the person inside so that he experienced catharsis (purification). The creator of unusual paintings himself recommended that they be viewed at a distance of at least 45 centimeters. He said that his work is a journey into an unknown world, where the viewer is unlikely to prefer to go on their own.

Genius Pollock

At the end of the 40s of the last century, one of the most famous abstract artists, Jackson Pollock, invented a new paint splatter technique - drip, which became a real sensation. She divided the world into two camps: those who recognized the author's paintings as brilliant, and those who called them daubs, unworthy of being called art. The creator of unique creations never stretched the canvases on the canvas, but placed them on the wall or floor. He walked around with a can of paint mixed with sand, gradually plunging into a trance and dancing. It seems that he accidentally poured a multi-colored liquid, but his every movement was thought out and meaningful: the artist took into account the force of gravity and the absorption of paint by the canvas. The result was an abstract confusion, consisting of blots of different sizes and lines. For his invented style, Pollock was dubbed "Jack the Sprinkler".

The most famous abstract artist gave his works not names, but numbers, so that the viewer had freedom of imagination. "Painting No. 5", which was in a private collection, was hidden from the eyes of the public for a long time. A hype begins around the masterpiece shrouded in a veil of mystery, and finally it appears at Sotheby's auction, instantly becoming the most expensive masterpiece at that time (its cost is $ 140 million).

Find your own formula to understand abstractionism

Is there a universal formula that will allow the viewer to perceive abstract art? Perhaps in this case, everyone will have to find their own guidelines based on personal experience, inner feelings and a great desire to discover the unknown. If a person wants to discover the secret messages of the authors, he will definitely find them, because it is so tempting to look behind the outer shell and see the idea, which is an important component of abstractionism.

It is difficult to overestimate the revolution in traditional art, which was made by famous abstract artists and their paintings. They forced society to look at the world in a new way, to see different colors in it, to appreciate unusual forms and content.

In the last century, the abstract direction became a real breakthrough in the history of art, but quite natural - a person has always been in search of new forms, properties and ideas. But even in our century, this style of art raises many questions. What is abstractionism? Let's talk about this further.

Abstract art in painting and art

In style abstractionism the artist uses the visual language of shapes, contours, lines and colors to interpret the subject. This is in contrast to traditional art forms, which take on a more literary interpretation of the subject - conveying "reality". Abstractionism, on the other hand, goes as far from classical fine art as possible; represents the objective world in a completely different way than in real life.

Abstractionism in art challenges the observer's mind, just as it challenges his emotions - in order to fully appreciate a work of art, the observer must get rid of the need to understand what the artist is trying to say, but must himself feel the response emotion. All aspects of life are interpretable through abstractionism - faith, fears, passions, reactions to music or nature, scientific and mathematical calculations, etc.

This trend in art arose in the 20th century, along with cubism, surrealism, Dadaism and others, although the exact time is not known. The main representatives of the abstract art style in painting are considered to be such artists as Wassily Kandinsky, Robert Delaunay, Kazimir Malevich, Frantisek Kupka and Piet Mondrian. Their work and important paintings will be discussed further.

Paintings by famous artists: abstract art

Wassily Kandinsky

Kandinsky was one of the pioneers of abstract art. He began his search in impressionism, and only then came to the style of abstractionism. In his work, he exploited the relationship between color and form to create an aesthetic experience that embraced both the vision and the emotions of the audience. He believed that complete abstraction gives room for deep, transcendent expression, and copying reality only interferes with this process.

Painting was deeply spiritual for Kandinsky. He sought to convey the depth of human emotion through a universal visual language of abstract shapes and colors that would transcend physical and cultural boundaries. He saw abstractionism as an ideal visual mode that can express the artist's "inner need" and convey human ideas and emotions. He considered himself a prophet whose mission is to share these ideals with the world, for the benefit of society.

"Composition IV" (1911)

Hidden in bright colors and clear black lines depict several Cossacks with spears, as well as boats, figures and a castle on a hilltop. As in many paintings from this period, it represents an apocalyptic battle that will lead to eternal peace.

In order to facilitate the development of a non-objective style of painting, as described in his On the Spiritual in Art (1912), Kandinsky reduces objects to pictographic symbols. By removing most of the references to the outside world, Kandinsky expressed his vision in a more universal way, translating the spiritual essence of the subject through all these forms into a visual language. Many of these symbolic figures were repeated and refined in his later work, becoming even more abstract.

Kazimir Malevich

Malevich's ideas about form and meaning in art somehow lead to a concentration on the theory of style abstractionism. Malevich worked with different styles in painting, but most of all he was focused on the study of pure geometric shapes (squares, triangles, circles) and their relationship to each other in the pictorial space.

Through his contacts in the West, Malevich was able to convey his ideas about painting to artist friends in Europe and the United States, and thus profoundly influence the evolution of contemporary art.

"Black Square" (1915)

The iconic painting "Black Square" was first shown by Malevich at an exhibition in Petrograd in 1915. This work embodies the theoretical principles of Suprematism developed by Malevich in his essay "From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism: New Realism in Painting".

On the canvas in front of the viewer is an abstract form drawn on a white background in the form of a black square - it is the only element of the composition. Even though the painting seems simple, there are elements such as fingerprints, brush strokes showing through the black layers of paint.

For Malevich, the square means feelings, and the white one means emptiness, nothing. He saw the black square as a godlike presence, an icon, as if it could become a new sacred image for non-objective art. Even at the exhibition, this picture was placed in the place where an icon is usually placed in a Russian house.

Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian, one of the founders of the Dutch De Stijl movement, is recognized for the purity of his abstractions and methodical practice. He rather radically simplified the elements of his paintings in order to display what he saw not directly, but figuratively, and to create a clear and universal aesthetic language in his canvases.

In his most famous paintings from the 1920s, Mondrian reduces forms to lines and rectangles, and palette to the simplest. The use of asymmetric balance became fundamental to the development of contemporary art, and his iconic abstract works continue to be influential in design and are familiar to popular culture to this day.

"Grey Tree" (1912)

The "gray tree" is an example of Mondrian's early transition to the style abstractionism. The 3D tree is reduced to the simplest lines and planes, using only grays and blacks.

This painting is one of a series of works by Mondrian that took a more realistic approach, where, for example, trees are presented in a naturalistic way. While later pieces became increasingly abstract, for example, the lines of the tree are reduced until the shape of the tree is barely visible and secondary to the overall composition of vertical and horizontal lines.

Here you can still see Mondrian's interest in abandoning the structured organization of lines. This move was significant for the development of Mondrian's pure abstraction.

Robert Delaunay

Delaunay was one of the earliest artists of the abstract style. His work influenced the development of this direction, based on the compositional tension that was caused by the contrast of colors. He quickly fell under the neo-impressionist color influence and followed the color system of works in the style of abstraction very closely. He considered color and light to be the main tools with which you can influence the objectivity of the world.

By 1910, Delaunay had made his own contribution to cubism in the form of two series of paintings depicting cathedrals and the Eiffel Tower, which combined cubic forms, movement dynamics and bright colors. This new way of using color harmony helped separate the style from orthodox Cubism, called Orphism, and immediately influenced European artists. Delaunay's wife, the artist Sonia Turk-Delaunay, continued to paint in the same style.

"Eiffel Tower" (1911)

Delaunay's main work is dedicated to the Eiffel Tower, the famous symbol of France. This is one of the most impressive of a series of eleven paintings dedicated to the Eiffel Tower between 1909 and 1911. It is painted bright red, which immediately distinguishes it from the dullness of the surrounding city. The impressive size of the canvas further enhances the grandeur of this building. Like a ghost, the tower rises above the surrounding houses, figuratively shaking the very foundations of the old order.

Delaunay's painting conveys this feeling of boundless optimism, innocence and freshness of a time that has not yet witnessed two world wars.

Frantisek Kupka

František Kupka is a Czechoslovak artist who paints in the style abstractionism graduated from the Prague Academy of Arts. As a student, he primarily painted on patriotic themes and wrote historical compositions. His early works were more academic, however, his style evolved over the years and eventually evolved into abstract art. Written in a very realistic manner, even his early works contained mystical surreal themes and symbols, which was preserved when writing abstractions.

Kupka believed that the artist and his work take part in a continuous creative activity, the nature of which is not limited, like an absolute.

"Amorpha. Fugue in two colors" (1907-1908)

Beginning in 1907-1908, Kupka began to paint a series of portraits of a girl holding a ball in her hand, as if she was about to play or dance with it. He then developed increasingly schematic representations of her, and eventually produced a series of completely abstract drawings. They were made in a limited palette of red, blue, black and white.

In 1912, at the Salon d'Automne, one of these abstract works was first publicly exhibited in Paris.

The style of abstractionism does not lose its popularity in the painting of the 21st century - lovers of modern art are not averse to decorating their homes with such a masterpiece, and works in this style fly under the hammer at various auctions for fabulous sums.

The following video will help you learn even more about abstract art in art: