Essay on Art Formal Analysis

Texture and pattern are very easy to identify in this painting. The street’s cobblestones show texture and pattern in the way that they are arranged. Texture is also demonstrated through the paint strokes on the buildings, the tree, and even the sky. These thick, uneven strokes add a layer of depth and texture to all elements of the painting.

     Color values are strong in this painting. It goes back to what I said about color, but I believe the soft hue of the blue walls against the strong hue of the bed frame and floor provides enough contrast to pull you into the painting. I also like the strong hue of the table. It connects the visual of looking at the chairs and the bed. When you look at the table, your eye cannot help but look at the other furniture.

The artist used an array of colors in the painting to portray his idea. He used different values of colors to show the objects that are getting direct sunlight and those that are shaded. The trees that are in the sunlight have a lighter value of brown on their trunks and a lighter value of green on their leaves, while the trees that are in the shade have darker brown trunks and darker green leaves. The dirt road is a tan color with spots of darker brown to show where the shade lies from the trees. You can tell that the horses and wagons are in the sun because they have a lighter value of color and the artist used a darker

The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh is consistent of his typical artwork. He uses the lines free and loose making it an expression of his contour lines. The spacing between the stars and the curving contours making it a dot to dot effect. Van Gogh’s, The Starry Night” portrays his personal emotion. He writes to his brother about his painting almost as if he would be confused himself about the painting. The village is dark but at the same time it is peaceful compared to the dramatic sky life. In Sol Le Witts, Wall Drawing it uses an ordered form and symmetrical form called classical lines. The line Sol Le Witts uses is considered a connection between two separate points. Although

The texture of the painting itself is probably rough. The artist makes no great attempt at conveying implied texture to the viewer. It seems as though implying texture may detract from the overall attitude of the piece. Altogether texture doesn’t play a huge role in this work of art.

Lines are marks going from one point to another in a specific direction. There are many different types of lines in this painting, specifically curved, actual lines. The curved lines in this painting are the lines that make up the river, specifically those that create the oxbow. Curved lines show energy and in this painting shows the movement of the river. These lines are actual because they are visible as they outline the border between the river and the land. This river also implies the principle of movement as the curved lines show the movement of the river. Another example of a line that shows energy would be the actual and diagonal line of the leaning tree. Diagonal lines imply movement and drama. This line shows movement of how the tree was once vertical, but after the storm is moving down and leaning towards the ground (Pitard). These lines both show motion as the tree is leaning, or even possibly in the midst of falling, and the river is

As indicated by the shape in the foreground, the lines that signify the contour of the rocks and freestanding structure merge. The lines lead the eye vertically as it meets the center. When looking at the painting as a whole, the viewer can see how the artist uses straight

He uses thin, delicate lines to show the craggy mountain. Expressive lines and points give the boulders and pine trees texture. The shapes of the mountains and the branches of the trees rise up to the heavens, giving the piece a feeling of dynamic power and energy uncontrollable by mankind. The horizontal lines of the lake give a sense of space. There is a path with a curve that can imply soft, shallow lines that leads the eye to the forefront of the painting. It’s is also a darker path with light illuminating the top of the path, almost with a come this way feeling.

Concerning color, there is a stark contrast between the figure on the painting and the background. More specifically, the figure of the woman is predominantly delineated in white color, especially pale, ashen white, as far her apparel and facial complexion are concerned, while there are also various hues of grey, with respect to her hair and accessory feather. These white and grey shades are vividly contrasted with the prevailing red and crimson hues of the background (viz. the drape, armchair, and table). Moreover, one can detect colors of dark green (jewelry), some beige on the left (pillar), and darker or lighter shades of blue on the right side of the canvas (sky), which all in concert and in addition to the subtle purple hue forming the sun or moon exude a certain dramatic sentiment. Also, there is brown, which often easily segues into gold (viz. books and attire details respectively). The main contrast of colors between white and red would be interpreted as serving the purpose of rendering the figure of the woman, and especially her face, the focal point of the work, despite, paradoxically enough, the lush red shades at the background. Bearing that in mind, the significance of the woman’s face will be enlarged upon later, when discussing aspects of her identity.

Many of the shapes in this painting are very organic, for they are, in fact, organic items. While they may be organic, they also have a somewhat geometric shape to them. There are a lot of perfect, or almost perfect, clusters of circles together. The fact that most of the fruit are circle shapes gives it more of a geometric feel. The parts that are the most organic shaped are the leaves.

The concept of linear perspective is simple to understand. There is a horizon line, which is the point where the sky meets the ground. There is a vanishing point, which is where all the lines of the painting run inward to meet the horizon line (Exploring Linear Perspective).

Though those seem to be bold, you can see the delicate detail put into each section making the piece flow beautifully. His strokes are smooth, yet uneven, giving the piece an interesting twist. The background offers a somewhat ominous sky, using what seems to be only whites and greys. The background seems to be the most muted part of the piece whereas the middle ground really grabs your attention with its vibrant colors. Cole uses yellow and muted brown to pop against the hues of green in the trees. These pops of color among the tree scape really make this the focal point of the piece. The foreground offers a very earthy feel with a simplistic pasture. Broken colors of green and brown are used to display the ongoing naturalistic feel this work displays. Towards the right of the piece you can see some sort of animal. Cole being a famous American landscape artist would make it only obvious to have animals in some of his

Shepard Fairey’s piece titled Pay Up or Shut Up is a representation of the role that money or your role in society dictate the power of your speech. This piece of art by Fairey was released in May of 2015. It is a screen print on cream speckletone paper.

• Vertical balance can be seen with the firm horizon line that separates a bleak landscape with a bleaker sky, where most of the visual weight in the composition occurs in the lower half of the painting.

The next question we usually ask ourselves is “why?” why the color, why the worn out look of the farmhouse, why the surroundings, in general why is the painting depicted like this? That brings up the need to analyze the work of art at hand. When focusing on this painting, you can see a few birds soaring over the farmhouse. They’re quite small so there’s some difficulty telling if they’re flying towards or away from the farmhouse. It is still very probable that they flew over it at some point in time though. The lines in the painting are mostly depicted in the trees, and outer walls of the farmhouse. Standing firm the trees look, and or represent strength and dominance. It makes you wonder if there’s still hope for the dead looking environment surrounding the farmhouse. When first observing this painting; the thoughts were generally negative such as; sad, abandoned, lonely, and depressing, etc. The painting is indeed centered, and the focal point is obviously the farmhouse.