Abstract Flower Art

Abstract flower art might seem to be a contradiction in terms. If something looks like a flower then can it be abstract and if it's completely abstract, can it be a flower? Yet artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Arshile Gorky and Andy Warhol have done it. Taking their inspiration from nature, they have found ways to reinterpret the familiar, retaining its essence and enhancing the viewer's experience. The flower is repositioned, shown from different angles, examined up close. Carefully examined leaves, petals, stamens become the subject of an entire painting and take on a new meaning.

Georgia O'Keeffe wanted to grab the attention of busy New Yorkers when she produced her first flower paintings and she succeeded. Using her eye as though it were a zoom lens, she examined the flower up close and personal. The resulting paintings are rich, sensual and powerful celebrations of nature, reflecting both its simplicity and its complexity.

Abstract expressionist artist Arshile Gorky's beautiful painting Water of the Flowery Mill is a colourful and poetic composition which draws on his response to nature and nostalgic reminiscences of the garden he knew as a child. Gorky, was happiest when he was close to nature in Connecticut and found the landscape there evoked memories of this childhood home in Armenia. In this painting, he captures the essence of a vibrant, living garden that is as uplifting and joyful as a walk in the real thing.

Pop artist, Andy Warhol, also used flowers in an abstracted form as subject matter for a series of paintings entitled simply Flowers. Using a photograph of a small flower (the rare and endangered Mandrinette) by nature photographer, Patricia Caulfield, Warhol placed a series of coloured cut-outs of the flower head against a dark background, creating a simple but highly effective image that creates the illusion of flowers floating towards us.

Dutch artist, Greetje Feenstra, produces abstract flower art which is soft, subtle and romantic. Her work, like that of Georgia O'Keeffe, creates a larger than life image of a flower so that its beauty and intensity are magnified and stretched across the space of the canvas.

Scottish conceptual artist, sculptor and painter, Bruce McLean, is known for his witty and often subversive take on modern art but he has produced some fine abstract art inspired by gardens. His prints, Healing Garden, Pink Beach Towel and Pink Cava Lily are beautiful interpretations of the natural world as seen by the artist.

These artists are representative of just some of the many artists who have been inspired by garden flowers and foliage to create abstract art that is both intriguing and accessible. To experience something as familiar to us as the colour and greenery of our garden in an abstracted form is to refresh our appreciation of it and celebrate its ability to uplift and inspire us.

To see some inspiring examples of abstract flower art by the artists mentioned in this article see the page at http://www.abstract-art-framed.com/abstract-flower-art.html