What is the difference between representational art and abstract art?

Question:

What is the difference between representational art and abstract art?

please, explain very briefly.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

You should say "figurative" not representational.
They both, in modern art, cover the same aspect of the artist's soul. The purpose is in fact to transmit an emotion, and whatever figurative or non-figurative does not really matter.
What matters is, is the emotion there ?
As a painter I do both, howevedr I prefer figurative so far. But the picture of a nice cristal, for example, or stalagmites : is it figurative or not ? If you don't know, you will find its 'abstract' but in reality, does it matter ?