Abstract painting arose at the beginning of the 20th century as a movement within modernist art. While figurative art focuses on representing objects and objects in reality, abstract art is about creating a visual experience that is independent of references to the world around us.

An important precursor to abstract painting was Impressionism, which was concerned with capturing the moment and the mood of the moment in an image. Later movements such as cubism and futurism further explored this idea of movement and time, laying the foundations for a more experimental and non-figurative approach to painting.

The Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky is considered one of the first abstract painters. He believed that the purpose of art was to express spiritual and emotional qualities, and not necessarily to depict objects from the physical world. Kandinsky believed that color and line had an inherent power to communicate with the viewer on a deep level, and his early abstract works explored this.

Eventually, several trends emerged within abstract painting, such as constructivism and suprematism, which focused on geometric shapes and primary colors. Abstract Expressionism, which originated in the United States in the 1940s and 50s, emphasized spontaneous expression and the use of color and line to express emotions and inner life.

Today, abstract painting is a very wide-ranging style, which can include everything from minimalist, monochrome compositions to more expressionistic and painterly works. Abstract painting continues to be an important part of contemporary art, and continues to inspire artists around the world.