Abstraction

Abstract art depicts nothing in the world but is built on colour, form, line and rhythm. It made its breakthrough at the beginning of the 20th century with Hilma af Klint, Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian – but ornament, calligraphy and the circles of Zen Buddhism show that the idea is much older.

• Before abstraction: pattern, ornament and script
• Hilma af Klint and the Paintings for the Temple
• Kandinsky and the music of colour
• Malevich’s Black Square and the Russian avant-garde
• Mondrian, De Stijl and the Bauhaus
• China: the freedom of the brushstroke
• Japan: ensō, Gutai and infinity nets
• New York: drips, colour fields and silence
• The Nordic countries: Concrete art, CoBrA and abstract film