Picasso’s preoccupation with the creation of a new aesthetic language, which helped to shape both analytic and synthetic Cubism, was also put to use in numerous portrait paintings the author created. The two most celebrated names who have created over hundreds of abstract portraits are Pablo Picasso and Willem de Kooning. Image via Famous Authors Who Mastered Abstraction in Portraiture Paintings Image via / Right: Willem de Kooning - Woman. Depending on the color choice, the application of the paint, or incorporation of various symbols, the relationship between the work and its sitter could also be read ‘in-between the lines’. Apart from the fact that in order to attempt to master the hidden messages which such works of art hold one is required to turn towards oneself, such images also reflect the thoughts of the artist which created it.

In comparison to geometric abstraction or monochromatic paintings, which can be analyzed and interpreted solely according to formal qualities, the ideas of rhythm in art, or of the symbolism of the visual language, the non- representation in dealing with the human form engages the viewer to also reflect upon their own identity and personal viewpoints.

Demanding from its public deeper and more profound contemplations, abstract portraits are more difficult to define than other forms of non-representational depictions of reality. Image via The Challenges and Obstacles of of an Abstract Portraitįrom an interpretive standpoint, what can be most difficult and sometimes most controversial about appreciating abstract portraits, is that they are inherently personal. Across an array of art disciplines, the abstract portrait can be a painting and drawing, but also a photograph, sculpture, installation, or even performance, which on a symbolical level incorporates the authors' or sitters’ qualities or defining trademarks. As such, the painting needed to deal with the realm of ideas, or at least, avoid a purely objective or representational approach to reality. First, it needed to utilize the concept of portraiture in some way, and secondly, it needed to be an example of abstract art. In contrast to such ideas, abstract portrait needed to incorporate two faculties to receive its definition. Apart from the human face, portrait art also included the entire human body, and even mythological figures, spiritual or fictional characters, and animals. Usually, the images needed to reflect the status of the sitter, his/her nobility, and placement in the society, and in extreme cases, the ideas of magic in art.

In the classical sense, this form of art production was usually defined as the highly realistic image of a human, most often depicted from the head to about the middle of the torso. Placing historical scenes, which included both the historical paintings and the mythological, often allegorical images as the most respectable subject matter, the masters placed portrait art as the second most valuable form of art. The two broke the idea of the hierarchy of subject matter that the masters of the past defined.

In the 16th-century, Italian painters and sculptors defined one of the most important art canons, which the avant-garde and the abstract portraits creatives managed to rebel against. Image via What Defines the Nature of Abstract Portraits? Image via / Right: Robert Delaunay - Portrait of Madame Heim. Unlike the arena of hyper-realistic portrait art, and images which attempt to showcase the likeness of its sitters and subject matter, abstract portraits leave the door to personal interpretation and reflections of the audience very much open. The two describe the end points on the long line defining this form of creativity. The two phenomena which best describe the nature of abstract portraits are the following - the ability to see faces everywhere known as pareidolia and the ability to imprint values and emotions onto a person’s face known as empathy. Confronting particular challenges, abstract portraits exist in the world between high representation and high symbolism.

Abstract portraits