Abstract art is created for viewers to enjoy. You don't need to be an art connoisseur, only take pleasure in it! In my gallery, I often hear comments like "What does this painting mean?" "I don't know much about art; I don't understand this painting!" "My five-year-old son could paint this and it would look better!"
Mario Maffioli
Even today, abstract art generates reactions such as these and many more. This in turn leads to one inevitable question: What should one answer to people who think this way?
We could start by explaining that an abstract painting is a representation of a reality, or that its meaning depends on the viewer. However, it would be more appropriate to review the history behind this artistic expression in order to interpret it accurately.
Art in the XX century
Abstract art, as an expression genre, started around the year 1910. It came to substitute the figurative representation of the external appearance of reality with an autonomous visual language, which is based on shapes, colors and lines. Vasily Kandinsky, a painter born in Moscow in 1866, is credited with creating the first abstract painting.
As a foundation, Kandinsky said that the goal of abstract art was to look,beyond the superficial. Art should not reproduce what is visible and apparent; rather, it should make its intrinsic qualities visible. Although Kandinsky can be considered the creator of the abstract genre, there are many other artists that contributed to the trend. Among them, the French painter Pau) Cezanne.
Born in Aix-en-Provenc in 1839, Cezanne worked new artistic forms rooted on impressionism. His work influenced trends such as cubism (use of circles, cubes and cylinders), fauvism (intense use of color, especially green) and expressionism (accenting or deforming reality).
He meticulously simplified the represented objects until he reached the basic fundamental shapes, such as circles, cubes and cylinders, with which he created the foundation for XX century cubism and abstract art. Cezanne and other painters, such as Pier Momdrian and Malevich, didn't want to copy nature, they wanted to represent it.
Mid-century art
In our country, abstract art appeared mid XX century. The first Costa Rican abstract painter, from my personal point of view, was the master Manuel de la Cruz Gonzalez Luj�n, who lived and worked abroad a large portion of his career. De la Cruz was followed by masters such as "Felo" Garcia � who studied in England �, the group Ocho, Lola Fern�ndez and Cesar Valverde.
Jard�n de Guanacaste by Fabio Herrera
However, in my opinion, the most important abstract painter in Costa Rica is Fabio Herrera, since his work was widely known and received much recognition, both in the country and internationally. More recently, we could also include Mario Maffioli and Federico Herrero.
Whether the artist is national or foreigner, we should go back to the initial problem about the meaning of an abstract painting. In my opinion, this question is not valid, since the artistic expression seeks to create a dialog between the artist, the painting and the viewer. 1n other words, the Oewer puts the final touch to the painting when he interprets it. Hence, my son might see a widen, my mother might consider it a Doodle and I see it as pure energy.
In short, the meaning of the abstract painting depends on the viewer. He becomes an active participant! There is no seed to know art to enjoy it. What's important is whether you like it or not. Regarding the affirmation that anybody can do it, I suggest he try it and encourage his son to paint!
Art and Culture 
