Abstract Art Surrealism Abstract Art

Abstract Art Surrealism

Abstract Art and Surrealism

Abstract are and surrealism at first glance appear very similar. Many use the terms abstract art and surrealism simultaneously to depict works of art that attempt to represent intangible or non-representational objects. On closer examination however one can see that abstract art and surrealism are in fact very different. The primary difference is that abstract art attempts to define some object, event or circumstance interpretively while surrealism attempt to produce works of art that result from the artists vision rather than from reality. It is important that artists understand the difference between the two so they can interpret works of art objectively.

Surreal and abstract art are similar in that one can't measure how realistic the artwork is or use real objects to reference when interpreting art. Realistic material tends to reference objective material, events or circumstances, and one can determine how closely an artist comes to depicting reality, whereas in both surreal and abstract art there is no standard object of measurement one can use to define art. Abstract and surrealist art may also reflect in some obtuse manner events, situations or objects that may or may not occur in real life, but at first glance one would not be able to automatically conclude that a work of art was derived from a realistic object, event or situation. Abstract art and surrealist art are both very subjective and prone to much interpretation from the world at large, and only the artists in both cases would be able to clearly define the scope and purpose of a particular artwork.

Despite many similarities, abstract art differs from surrealism. Surrealists tend to create a work or art using some vision often developed during the artistic process. The goal of the artist is to recreate this vision on paper. This vision is solely the construct of the artists mind in most cases, rather than an impressionistic interpretation of any material object, event or situation.

Thus surrealist art is much more difficult to interpret and more subjective than abstract art. Abstract art is less visionary and more the equivalent of an artist attempting to create an image that represents something real in symbolic form (Wittenborn, 1957). For this reason abstract art more similarly represents realism, only the artists works to deliver an impression or symbol of an actual object or event rather than create something purely from a visionary perspective. One might actually suggest that abstract art is closer to impressionist technique than surrealism in this respect as the artist when creating abstract art often tries to produce something that is equivalent but not exactly the same as a real object, event or circumstance.