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Glite Dictionary
💡 A general idea 🎨 An abstract artwork 🤔 Deep thought 💧 Taking away
abstraction

abstraction

6 8.0
A painting that uses shapes and colors instead of realistic pictures
  • noun
  • /æbˈstrækʃən/
translation icon : obra abstracta
  • Before she made films, as a young painter, Schneemann experimented with a vibrant, visually fierce figurative abstraction.
  • abstraction in painting
  • abstraction in art
  • pure abstraction

And he was looking to music to find abstraction in, in his painting.

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Examples

  • In this artwork, the abstraction allows viewers to appreciate the beauty of color and form without being distracted by lifelike representation.

  • We can build our images around the message of color or the abstraction of black and white.

    Academic text (2010)

  • So it's again a wonderful abstraction of shadow.

  • As the colors grow brighter and more vivid, their abstraction gives way to solid form.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • We talked about abstraction, how a painter can paint an abstract barn, an abstract silo.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • A Bamileke man's shirt with two waist panels features embroidered motifs with abstractions of frogs and spiders.

    Academic text (2006)

  • The painting features an abstraction that focuses on vibrant colors and geometric shapes rather than realistic details.

  • The artist's use of abstraction transforms ordinary objects into a visual experience centered on color and shape.

Synonyms

painting
vsabstraction
648 1.0

A picture made with paint on canvas or paper

focuses on altering representation to show shapes and colors not realistic objects
artwork
vsabstraction
81 3.0

A painting or sculpture that shows an artist's idea

is a specific painted type that changes or omits real objects to stress form
abstract art
vsabstraction
3 3.9

Work made with shapes and colors that does not show real things

is a painted work that omits realistic objects to highlight shapes and colors

Antonyms

realistic
65 4.1

Showing things as they are in real life

Compounds

semi-abstraction
  • Specialized
8.8

An art style where some things look like real life but not completely

How Abstract

nonrepresentational
  • Specialized
1 8.9
abstraction
6 8.0
semi-abstraction
  • Specialized
8.8

Surface Forms

abstraction singular
abstractions plural

Morphology

abstraction = abstract (transparent) = abstract + ion

Derived from the adjective 'abstract' with the nominalizing '-ion' to denote an instance or example (an abstract work); the connection to abstract art is direct.

Etymology

Abstraction comes from ab- 'away' and tract 'to pull', so it has the idea of being 'pulled away' from real life. Artists use abstraction to pull away exact shapes and show color, line, or form instead, which is why the word means non-realistic art.