All of the energy brought to the picture by the artist can be directed to utilizing color, line, space, and other graphic tools to create an effective image. The difference between realism and abstract art is that realism reinforces graphic tools with recognizable images while abstract art does not. Even simple abstract images are very powerful. Perhaps color is the most important element of abstract art. It is certainly the most expressive.
Color is a very complex element to deal with.
It takes many artists years of study to become comfortable with it. I must someday be able to improvise freely on the chromatic keyboard of the rows of watercolor cups. During the 1950s and '60s several groups of artists chose color to be the absolute force in their work. Among them were Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko, and Kenneth Noland. Noland employed simple forms in his paintings, including the stripe, the chevron, and the target.