Abstract art is the category of art that most people feel they are supposed to understand and quietly worry that they do not. These worries are completely understandable and entirely unfounded.

What abstract art actually is

Abstract art does not depict anything specific. It works instead with colour, form, texture, movement and composition to create a visual experience that is about feeling rather than appearance. For a specific explanation of one type of abstract art, read my post on what alcohol ink art is and why it feels different to live with.

You do not need to understand abstract art to respond to it

Abstract art works on you before your conscious mind has anything to say about it. Colour has a direct physiological effect on the human nervous system. The movement in a painting affects how your body feels looking at it. None of this requires interpretation. It happens to you before you have decided what you think. This is why people stand in front of abstract paintings and feel something without being able to name what they feel.

What abstract art is trying to do

Most abstract art is attempting to capture a feeling that cannot be adequately represented by depicting something in the world, or to create an experience of colour itself, or to invite multiple interpretations. This last quality is what makes abstract art so suited to domestic spaces. A painting that reveals something different in different light or at different times of year keeps being worth looking at. This is exactly how to choose wall art you won't get bored of.

How to look at abstract art

The most useful thing you can do is pay attention to what the painting does to you. Does the room feel different when you look at it? Does something in you quiet down or warm up or come alive? For more on identifying the feeling you need your room to create, read my post on what your home says about how you want to feel.

Choosing abstract art for your home

Find a painting that does something to you when you look at it. Something specific and genuine. That is the painting. For more guidance on choosing, read my posts on abstract wall art for living rooms, art for a calm bedroom, and the best wall art for above a sofa. And for real stories of what happens when an abstract painting finds its home, read my post on the paintings that found their homes.

Find the one that does that for you in my collection here. I cannot wait to see you there.