Abstract Art

Abstract art uses colors and lines to create a painting that alludes to the subject, but does not accurately represent the subject. Abstract drawings have been around since the dawn of mankind, but the term originated in the early 1900s when this art form became widely popular in Europe and the United States. The Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky is said to have produced the first original abstract art form around 1911. His painting "Aquarellentwurf, 1914" is a wonderful example of this art style, which also includes these art forms and painters: Cubism, which uses geometric shapes, is exemplified in Spanish painter Pablo Picasso's work "Violin and Guitar"; Neoplastic art, the term that Dutch painter Piet Mondrian gave to his style of painting the harmony of lines and colors, can be seen in his "Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow"; Abstract expressionism is found in American painter Jackson Pollock's work entitled "Composition."

Wassily Kandinsky

One of the most famous 20th Century painters, Wassily Kandinsky is thought to have painted the first modern abstract works. He was born in Moscow in 1866, and as a young man studied law and economics at the University of Moscow. Although he was successful at his profession, he began to study painting when he turned 30. Kandinsky was greatly inspired by music, and he often incorporated spiritual themes in his art, addressing Christ's birth and death, resurrection, and the apocalypse. His abstract style is known for large masses of colors and very few human forms. Today, favorite Kandinsky prints include Farbestudie, a bright arrangement of colors and shapes, and Composition VII, which Kandinsky describes as his most complex work. The artist died in France in 1944.