This article reflects the most important moments of passage and evolution of the painting from “mimezisˮ to the disfigurative associative abstract. The process of creation is passed through the prism of the psychic, the subconscious, the post-modern conceptualism. The role of social changes, the refusal of old ideals, the crisis of art, the associative-symbolic phenomenon are mentioned. It is mentioned about the psychological associations and their mechanisms of appearance, their combination in different representations, interpretations and artistic images. About their role in creative process and appearance of work of art; the unlimited imaginative possibilities of associative thinking for the artist. The artistic image and the associative compositions can be basic fundamental concepts, eternal and own of humanity. They can also lead through themselves the message of a certain cultural layer. The publication also reveals the content of associative painting, full of symbolic, metaphorical substrate, concentration on philosophical, symbolic, almost archetypal concepts, inserted in creative acts, the artist's personal space. The associative composition is analyzed through different creative, psychological, philosophical artistic aspects. The evolution of the associative in art goes through the all historical ways of establishing different genres and artistic currents.The forms and the means of the associative composition: the color, the contrast, the texture, is easily associated with the abstract notions and forms. Emotions can be rendered pictorial by applying these forms and associative compositional means. The diversity of traditional, non-traditional, experimental, innovative materials and techniques can render any state, creative and inner disposition of the painter, any creative concept, artistic idea, gives the painter full creative freedom.