internal focus definition

Artists that draw inspiration from their thoughts and feelings are internally focused.  Surrealism, post-impressionism, fauvism, cubism, and abstract expressionism are examples of art movements driven by internally focused artists.  Having an internal focus allows artists to convey the intangible - a feeling or idea.   Internally focused artists may use physical objects to represent what they want to convey, but they are only a means to an end - the goal being to express what is inside of them, versus portraying strictly what is in front of their eyes in order to represent it visually.