In abstract paintings one can discern various degrees of abstraction. In the
semi-abstract art portrait of woman, the face is done in a typically figurative manner, while the hair is recognizable as such, but essentially abstract. The most abstract of the abstract paintings shown above is the
abstract art landscape. On close inspection the vegetation on a river bank can be seen and a tree with it's reflection in the stream.
Then we have the
tiger and cub painting. Here only the contours and some facial features fit the real world, in the background something that reminds of the sun can be seen but the majority of this abstract painting's details as well as it's coloration is abstract. To the right of the tiger and cub painting we have the Portrait of Hathor, painting that reminds us that abstract art is not
really a 20th century invention. Made after an ancient Egyptian relief, this painting shows a body distorted with respect to reality, not a precise representation. The relief was cut in pale-grey stone, so the colors are the artist's, as well as the mosaic in the background.
Many abstract paintings show a fragmentation of the subject, a technique first seen in
Picasso's cubism. The
neo-cubist portrait of woman painting owes it's "cubism" to this element of fragmentation but differs from Picasso's cubism in that the image has been "flattened", that is, the third dimension has been eliminated, as in
Piet Mondrian's cubist period.