ELI5: What Is Abstract Art?

Abstract art is art that uses shapes, colors, and lines to show a feeling or an idea instead of trying to look like a real thing, person, or place.

Think about taking a photo with a camera. When you take a picture of your family dog, the photo looks exactly like your dog. That is realistic art. But imagine if you tried to paint how it feels when your dog runs up to give you a big, happy, excited lick on the face. You might not paint a dog at all. Instead, you might paint a huge, bright yellow splash with energetic red squiggles. That is abstract art.

You already see abstract things in everyday life:

• Music: When you hear a fast, cheerful song with no words, you cannot touch it or see it, but you know it sounds happy. Abstract art is just like music, but for your eyes.
• Fluffy Clouds: When you look up at the sky, you see white puffs. They are not actually dragons, cars, or ice cream cones, but your imagination turns those shapes into whatever you want them to be.
• Warm Blankets: The cozy feeling you get wrapped in a blanket on a rainy day could be drawn as soft, round blobs of gentle blue and warm gray.

• A sharp, jagged black line might mean anger or thunder.
• A soft, glowing pink circle might mean a warm hug.
• A splash of bright green might mean running through fresh grass on the first day of spring.