Art Guide · Styles
Abstract
Colour, form and rhythm
Abstract painting is built from colour, form and line without imitating the visible world. It was born in the 1910s with Kandinsky, Mondrian and Klee, and before them Hilma af Klint.
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Last updated: · Iconica Society editors
In brief
Kandinsky thought of colours like musical notes; Mondrian reduced painting to horizontal and vertical lines and primary colours; Klee built geometric forms with childlike playfulness. The Swedish painter Hilma af Klint was making large abstract paintings from 1906, before all of them. Abstract works make a strong focal point in modern and minimal interiors.
Key works
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Composition VIIIWassily Kandinsky, 1923 Composition with Red, Blue and YellowPiet Mondrian, 1930 
SenecioPaul Klee, 1922 
Several CirclesWassily Kandinsky, 1926 
Yellow-Red-BlueWassily Kandinsky, 1925 
Castle and SunPaul Klee, 1928 
Composition with Large Blue Plane, Red, Black, Yellow, and GrayPiet Mondrian, 1921 
Fish MagicPaul Klee, 1925