A Critical Evaluation Of The Phenomenological Principles And Traces Of Abstraction In Preceding Art Movements Leading Towards Emergence Of Abstract Art

Abstract

This research paper critically evaluates the foundational principles of abstraction in art movements preceding the emergence of abstract art around 1910, including Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Neo-Impressionism, Cubism, Expressionism, Dadaism, and Surrealism. Drawing on historical analysis, the study examines how these movements progressively dismantled representational conventions through innovations in colours, form, perspective, and subject matter, culminating in the “object lessness” of abstract art. Each movement’s contributions are assessed, alongside their limitations, socio-political contexts, and interdisciplinary influences, such as science, psychology, and non-Western art. The paper highlights the collective trajectory toward non-objective art, driven by cultural reactions to industrialization and modernity, and sets the stage for understanding the formal emergence of abstraction in the works of pioneers like Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich.