Abstract art

Abstraction is a matter of degree: some works only alter colour or form conspicuously and the subject can still be made out, while total abstraction bears no trace of anything recognisable, as in geometric abstraction. Around 1910 artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, František Kupka and Francis Picabia painted the first abstract pictures. Action painting, widespread from the 1940s to the early 1960s, had paint dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas rather than carefully applied, making the physical act of painting a central part of the work. In Korea, dansaekhwa from the 1970s built its surfaces from a single tone and repeated gestures.

Go close to see how thick the paint is and which way the strokes run, then step back to the masses of colour: which layer went on first, and which last?

When there is nothing to recognise, what is this painting asking you to look at?

• Dansaekhwa 단색화→Dansaekhwa is the abstract painting that emerged in Korea from the 1970s.