Editing Abstract art (section)

=== 19th century in Europe ===
{{Main|Romanticism|Impressionism|Post-Impressionism|Expressionism|Spiritualist art}}

[[File:James Abbot McNeill Whistler 012.jpg|thumb|[[James McNeill Whistler]], ''[[Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket]]'' (1874),<ref>[http://blogs.princeton.edu/wri152-3/rpower/archives/001951.html Whistler versus Ruskin, Princeton edu.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616062046/http://blogs.princeton.edu/wri152-3/rpower/archives/001951.html|date=June 16, 2010}} Retrieved June 13, 2010</ref><ref>[http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/turnerwhistlermonet/wvr.htm From the Tate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112211617/http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/turnerwhistlermonet/wvr.htm|date=2012-01-12}}, retrieved April 12, 2009</ref> [[Detroit Institute of Arts]]]]
Patronage from the church diminished and private patronage from the public became more capable of providing a livelihood for artists.<ref>[[Ernst Gombrich]], "The Early Medici as Patrons of Art" in ''[[Norm and Form]]'', pp. 35–57, London, 1966</ref><ref>Judith Balfe, ed. ''Paying the Piper: Causes and Consequences of Art Patronage'', Univ. of Illinois Press</ref> Three [[art movement]]s which contributed to the development of abstract art were [[Romanticism]], [[Impressionism]] and [[Expressionism]]. Artistic independence for artists was advanced during the 19th century. An objective interest in what is seen can be discerned from the paintings of [[John Constable]], [[J. M. W. Turner]], [[Camille Corot]] and from them to the Impressionists who continued the ''[[plein air]]'' painting of the [[Barbizon school]].
Early intimations of a new art had been made by [[James McNeill Whistler]] who, in his painting ''[[Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket]]'', (1872), placed greater emphasis on visual sensation than the depiction of objects. Even earlier than that, with her "spirit" drawings, [[Georgiana Houghton]]'s choice to work with abstract shapes correlate with the unnatural nature of her subject, in a time when abstraction was not yet a concept (she organized an exhibit in 1871).

[[Expressionism|Expressionist]] painters explored the bold use of paint surface, drawing distortions and exaggerations, and intense color. Expressionists produced emotionally charged paintings that were reactions to and perceptions of contemporary experience; and reactions to [[Impressionism]] and other more conservative directions of late 19th-century painting. The Expressionists drastically changed the emphasis on subject matter in favor of the portrayal of psychological states of being. Although artists like [[Edvard Munch]] and [[James Ensor]] drew influences principally from the work of the [[Post-Impressionists]] they were instrumental to the advent of abstraction in the 20th century.
[[Paul Cézanne]] had begun as an Impressionist but his aim – to make a logical construction of reality based on a view from a single point,<ref>Herbert Read, ''A Concise History of Modern Art'', Thames and Hudson</ref> with modulated color in flat areas – became the basis of a new visual art, later to be developed into [[Cubism]].

Additionally in the late 19th century in Eastern Europe [[mysticism]] and early [[Modernism|modernist]] religious philosophy as expressed by [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|theosophist]] [[Helena Blavatsky|Mme. Blavatsky]] had a profound impact on pioneer [[Geometric abstraction|geometric]] artists like [[Hilma af Klint]] and [[Wassily Kandinsky]]. The mystical teaching of [[Georges Gurdjieff]] and [[P.D. Ouspensky]] also had an important influence on the early formations of the geometric abstract styles of [[Piet Mondrian]] and his colleagues in the early 20th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Mondrian---mysticism---ldquo-My-long-search-is-over-rdquo--4237 |title=Hilton Kramer, "Mondrian & mysticism: My long search is over", ''New Criterion'', September 1995 |publisher=Newcriterion.com |access-date=2012-02-26 |archive-date=2012-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309153028/http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Mondrian---mysticism---ldquo-My-long-search-is-over-rdquo--4237 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]] also inspired the abstract art of [[Kasimir Malevich]] and [[František Kupka]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/21/arts/art-view-how-the-spiritual-infused-the-abstract.html|title=Art View; How the Spiritual Infused the Abstract|first=Michael|last=Brenson|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 21, 1986|access-date=May 18, 2020|archive-date=July 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723120826/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/21/arts/art-view-how-the-spiritual-infused-the-abstract.html|url-status=live}}</ref>