5 main DIFFERENCES between FIGURATIVE and ABSTRACT painting

The western art has been evolving from figurative to abstract from the Renaissance to the mid-19th century. Thus, at the end of that century, many artists created a new type of art that escaped the logic of perspective and the attempt to reproduce reality strictly. A transformation that was giving more and more space to the subjectivity and the inner world of the artist and the expression of him through abstract forms.

In this lesson from a TEACHER we show you the main differences between figurative and abstract painting to know what are the keys to both types of art and their most outstanding differences.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the figure and the representation of reality gradually lost importance, giving way to experimentation and search for new artistic languages.

Thus, the impressionists were the first to take figures and objects into the background, giving more emphasis to light effects. However, there was two avant-garde styles that had the figure as the protagonist: the social realism and the expressionism, two movements that put the human figure at the center.

For its part, the abstract was present in the avant-garde movements since the end of the 19th century, from post-impressionism to symbolism, moving towards pure abstraction since 1913 approximately. The first abstract paintings came from the hand of artists like Kandinsky, Malevich, Mondrian and Robert Delaunay. Cubism did not reach pure abstraction by introducing the grid and not breaking completely with the traditional compression of painting.

Be that as it may, abstract painting arose at a time when society needed a artistic language that better reflects contemporary society, without having to resort to the artistic forms of the past. Thus, abstract art meant a break with the artistic precepts of previous centuries, being an art in which imagination, feeling and emotion prevail.

The differences between figurative art and abstract art it starts from its definition. Thus, we can establish that:

Realism or abstraction

Figurative art aims to realistic representation of nature, creating the illusion of space, providing the feeling of depth thanks to perspective. An art that is also defined by the representation of figures, that is, of objects trying to give them enough verisimilitude, idealizing them or intensifying some of their aspects.

For his part, in abstract art, the artist abstracts from reality and create associations of shapes, colors and textures to represent an idea, a content or a theme, without represent a real space, objects, landscapes, figures or animated beings with lighting and perspective realistic.

Objective vs. subjective

Figurative art creates its works using a objective perspective, showing identifiable figures, objects and subjects. And, although the author reflects some subjective element, he does not alter the work and allows it to be understood without having to resort to a reading of symbols or metaphors.

Abstract art has a more subjective, even becoming difficult to interpret if you do not have a context that allows you to understand the author's ultimate message. Thus, neither the subject nor the techniques are obvious.

Representation of reality

Along the same lines, figurative works always refer to the reality that can be seen and represented as it is through painting, sculpture or any other artistic discipline. Thus, the painter sometimes becomes a kind of notary or witness of reality, without sometimes transcending feeling or emotion.

For its part, abstract art often does not represent the theme raised in the title, mixing seemingly unconnected shapes and colors. Specialists consider that abstract art can be considered as a kind of visual metaphor, also trying to evoke and awaken emotions, the involvement and the response of the viewer. Thus, abstract art shows how color and line are able to create feelings, emotions and responses in the viewer, without having to resort to the representation of a tangible reality, recognizable as figurative, without requiring great intellectual effort on his part.

References to the real world

Another of the differences between figurative and abstract painting is that, in the case of the figurative, the artist usually makes his works with a model front to be able to contrast aspects such as light, perspective or scale. You can also sketch or paint from memory to paint in his workshop or paint al plein air, This is outdoors, to reproduce a landscape or the environment in which the model is.

Abstract art, by not sticking to figurative representation, uses a language of line, color and shape that allows creating a visual language independent of real world references.

Artistic Applications

Figurative art can be applied to all visual and plastic arts, being always evident, something that can also be done in the case of abstract art, although its application does not it has such an evident result in plastic arts such as architecture or non-plastic arts, such as music or dance.