Abstract Painting Professor Erica Flores

Differentiating abstract and representational paintings Representational Abstract Leonardo Da Vinci Wassily Kandinsky

What is Representational Art? Representational art portrays specific recognizable objects. In some cases, the representational painting may look like a photograph.

What is Abstract art? Abstract paintings have designs, shapes or colors that do not look like specific physical objects. As such abstract paintings are a lot harder to understand conceptually than representational paintings.

There are two types of abstraction. One type shown here by Pablo Picasso “Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon” oil on canvas- depicts a group of women. Though their features are angular and portions distorted we can still distinguish the female form.

Then we have abstract painting that is considered pure abstract. Vasily Kandinsky “Watercolor No ” uses shapes, colors, value and and lines to express his image.

There are shades of abstraction. For example Paul Klee “Red and White Domes” 1914 watercolor. In this painting you will notice the architectural structures within the layered colors and values.

Georgia O’Keefe “Blue” 1916 watercolor on paper

Piet Mondrian “Tableau II” 1920’s oil on canvas

Jackson Pollock “Untitled” Ink and Watercolor on Paper 1946

William De Kooning “Reclining Woman” Mixed Media 1948

George James “Lady in the Blue Glove” Watercolor on Yupo, 2006

Wangechi Mutu “Funkalicious Fruit Field” 2007 Mixed Media