“An empty canvas is a living wonder... far lovelier than certain pictures.”

-Wassily Kandinsky

The theory that the mind obtains some or all of its concepts

by abstracting them

from concepts

it already has,

or from experience.

For Example:

Your concept of hot is based off of past ideas, concepts, and experiences with things that are hot, stove, coffee, sun, etc.

“The Wounded Angel” (Simberg 1903)

• Inspiration comes from fauves, impressionists, and cubists.

• Progressively shifted away from superficial art to focus on lines and colors rather than the objects as a whole.

• Note: Most if not all abstractionists are classically trained artists

Abstract art brings a mental, not just a physical link to people

Abstractionism believes that art doesn’t have to be real, it just has to express real emotions.

Abstractionism

helps the mind

make connections

with previous

experiences.

Early work was greatly influenced by the impressionists.

Used intense colors.

Saw entire worlds made of color, without focusing on form as the most important part of art.

Attempted to translate the spiritual language of the universe with color and line

Took cubism and further developed it.The brushstrokes in his paintings are evident throughout, where black lines are the flattest elements, with the least amount of depth.

Wanted to reveal the essence of the spiritual energy in the balance of forces that governs the universe.

Began as a sketch artist mainly doing anatomical drawings. Moved into nature later becoming progressively more non-representational

Became simpler and simpler as desire to reveal the universal order under things developed.

Influence of cubism is clear as spent time in Paris. Believed what cubists started was a step in the correct direction but not there yet.

Believed classical geometry to be essential to uncovering the universal order. We see here the way that the rectangles in Mondrian’s work can be divided in half in succession an infinite number of times.

NOTE: This pattern is repeatedly found in nature and possibly could give us clues to relationships between Mondrian’s Neo-Plastic paintings and natural objects.

Chiefly known for her paintings of flowers, rocks, shells, animal bones, and landscapes.

She had a very spiritual connection with nature, which is apparent through her paintings.

Used color because it is easy to relate to feelings and transcendental feelings of the soul/ divine energy.

“I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught.” -Georgia O’Keeffe

Began to experiment with abstraction in water color and charcoal.

“A Storm” (O’Keeffe 1922)

Influenced architecture especially that of Frank Lloyd Wright. Principles mimic Mondrian. Notice how they also deal with the simplicity of nature like Mondrian

Influenced couture fashion by making design something “avant-garde”, no longer necessarily practical and progressively got more daring as it moved away from traditional black and white to use bold color and daring cuts.

Abstractionism is a further development of earlier movements in a search for what is true and to translate the spiritual language of the universe. Yet abstractionists did not believe that what they achieved was an end, some kind of destination, or that their philosophy was static.

Abstract artists are all classically trained and more or less consciously made the move toward abstraction.

Shifted their focus away from form and to depicting a collection of color and line.

The art is in the process of creation not in the painting. Final work is a byproduct.