1 - What IS abstract in art terms?

Abstract is art that is independent from the visual references in the world.

By the end of the 19th century, artists developed a new form of art which encompasses the changes in society, including technology, science and philosophy.

Full abstraction bares no resembulance to anything recognizable.

The colour and form of abstract art is the subject of the piece, its non-objective and non-representational.

However, abstract can represent things that aren't physical, for example music, emotion or spiritual experiences.

In art history, the detatchment from the traditional art where a painting represented something or meant something was noticed when impressionism, expressionism and romanticism movements emerged in the 19th century. These movements 'broke the rules' of traditonal art and revolutionised artist independence. Later, in the 20th century, cubism and fauvism movements broke the mould. With noted painters such as Van Gogh, Gauguin and Seurat.

Abstract art can be defined by the unusual composition and combination of colours, lines, shapes or objects.

Expressionists in the 1940's explored the use of bold, intense and harsh colours, exaggerations and distortions. They had particular emphasis on the subject matter in favor of the portrayal of psychological states of being. Some techniques of portraying this were having the paint dripped, dropped, dragged, splattered or poured on the canvas to achieve a relaxed and less structured painting.

Some noted expressionists are Edvard Munch, Emil Nolde, Käthe Kollwitz.

Impressionists were mainly based in Paris. The characteristics of impressionist art include small, thin brush strokes with the emphasis of lights and darks, highlights and shadows. Impressionists relaxed the boundary between subject and background, creating life like paintings.

Noted impressionists were Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sissley and Edgar Degas.