An abstract art could be described as one that does not contain a recognisable subject or one which doesn't relate to anything external or try to replicate something. Instead the colours, forms and often the materials are the subjects of the abstract painting. Abstract art is considered to be completely non-objective or non-representational.

Further divisions can be made between abstract art which is geometric, and abstract art that is more fluid and examples spontaneity, often classified with abstract art are figurative abstractions and paintings which can represent topics that aren't visual, such as an emotion, a sound, or a spiritual experience.

Figurative abstract art is where the simplification of reality has taken place and detail is eliminated from recognisable objects leaving only some degree of recognisable form.

In Western art history, the break from the idea that a painting had to represent something happened in the early 20th century.Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and other art movements of the time all contributed by releasing the constraints of art that had followed since The Renaissance. Impressionism saw painters creating what appeared to be unfinished paintings. The use colour in a non-realistic way was adopted by the Fauvists. Cubism was the idea of painting an object from more than one view point.