Abstract painting is any painting that uses vague and indistinct elements such as shapes, forms, and colors to represent what the artist is painting, rather than having an accurate and direct depiction of what is being painted. An abstract painting achieves its effect using nothing from visual reality as its source.
The term abstract means to remove or separate something from another thing. So, in a sense, an abstract painting allows the painter to remove the concrete form from the subject and instead uses geometric shapes, colors, gestural marks, and other abstract elements to depict the object, landscape, figure, or state of mind that is being painted and reflected in the painting.