Unit 4: The Meaning of the Abstract

When admiring an abstract painting, people is able to find a personal meaning or interpretation for the work. I believe that independently of all types of paintings, abstract works are very personal for the painter and for the audience. Although abstract paintings are sometimes symmetric and with different shapes and forms, the overall picture does not have a defined result. That is why painters like Clyfford Still and Carlo Carra got multiple critiques of their work. There is not a possible way that the public had a general concept of their paintings. Abstract painting is impossible to understand with general concepts, emotions and too much thinking. Abstract paintings are what they are that is all you can get from them. Abstract paintings are the union of colors, shapes and the direction of brushstrokes. These kind of art work does not even require people to think and search for Thea meaning. Instead, the meaning and sense of abstract paintings are found when the first glance is given to the painting. The effect that the colors, shapes and forms of the painting give to people is the real meaning of it. If a person associates bright blue with the sky or the ocean, the abstract painting would have a oceanic or heavenly effect in that person. For me abstract art is one of the most beautiful, personal and enjoyable types of painting. It is basically you.