The word 'abstract' comes ...

The word 'abstract' comes from the light tower of the philosophers. One of their spotlights that they have particularly focused on 'Art'. [Abstraction was] not so much what you could paint but rather what you could not paint. You could not paint a house or a tree or a mountain. It was then that subject matter came into existence as something you ought not have.
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 Willem de Kooning

Quotes from the same author

I see the canvas and I begin... It's a necessary evil to get into the work, and it's pretty marvelous to be able to get out of it.
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 Willem de Kooning
Even abstract shapes must have a likeness
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 Willem de Kooning
My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I find myself having become desperate. Very seldom do I start out that way. I can see of course that, in the abstract, thinking and all activity is rather desperate.
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 Willem de Kooning
The idea of space is given to the artist to change if he can. The subject matter in the abstract is space.
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 Willem de Kooning
Even an abstract form has to have a likeness.
 See image
 Willem de Kooning