Art which portrays, in however altered or distorted a form, things perceived in the visible world and particularly the human figure. Synonym: representational art. The term is often used in contrast to abstract art. 

Figurative art includes in its artworks line, shape, color, light, mass, volume, texture and perspective. These techniques serve to create an illusion of space and form.

The term “figurative” has been used since the arrival of abstract art in the early 20th century in order to distinguish artists who refer to the real world as their subject matter.

Figurative art has been the goal of artmaking since ancient times. Traditionally, figurative artists stove to create works that were derived from real-object sources and often depicted human figures. However, arguments have been made across the evolution of figurative art.

Over some periods, there were some figurative artists who aimed to create images that extended from what was real, thereby inventing illusionary effects. It has allowed for this art style to include multiplicities of definitions.

Portrait, landscape and still life are examples of figurative styles seeking to reproduce Nature, sometimes reaching naturalism through extreme attention to the representation of Nature.

Figurative art can also be the expression of a feeling in front of Nature, its sublime or curious character which sometimes requires a selection of what is represented.

Figurative styles such as Renaissance, Baroque, Realism or Hyperrealism allowed artists to represent the real, otherwise known as mimesis (Greek term meaning “the action of reproducing or figuring and imagining things.")

Movements such as Expressionism, Symbolism, Impressionism and Surrealism are also part of the figurative art movement even if they are not as rigorous in their representation of reality.

Figurative art does not necessarily require a completely realistic depiction of subject matter. For example, the impressionist painters worked with loose brushstrokes and simplified forms, often far from the reality before them, but their art is always recognizable as having as its source something real. When Claude Monet painted his series of the Rouen Cathedral in the 1890s, the subject is easily perceived.

Figurative art can also represent the real world in a completely distorted or subjectively rendered way by the artist, such as in Cubist art.

Despite the arrival of abstract art in the early 1900s, figurative painting continues to be popular. American hyperrealism and Pop Art stand out clearly.