Once photography could copy reality perfectly, painters asked 'why compete?' and chased feeling, light, and pure shape instead. Modern movements from Impressionism to abstraction are art breaking free from copying what the eye sees.
Breaking with realism
In the late 1800s the Impressionists (Monet, Renoir) abandoned crisp detail to capture light and a fleeting moment with visible brushstrokes. The 20th century pushed further into abstraction, where artists like Kandinsky let color and shape stand on their own rather than depict real objects.
Representational art shows recognizable things; abstract art uses color, line, and form without depicting a real scene.
- Picture a blurry pond of water lilies full of dappled light.
- Now picture a canvas of pure colored shapes and lines.
- Decide which is Impressionism and which is abstraction.
What you should see: The water lilies are Impressionism (light and moment); the pure shapes are abstraction.