Alexandra Kosloski
How To Look At Art
Visual Analysis, Formal Elements and Design Principles
Alex Katz, Homage to Monet, 2009, via Andrea Rossetti, 2016
“Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun”
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Visual Analysis
To begin to understand a work of art, it helps to know any context you can, including the artist’s name, the title of the artwork and the year it was created. This information is often provided, which is useful in considering the historical context, like why the artwork was created, who it was created for, and what movement it was a part of. These details can lay the groundwork for how to look at art. For example, the identity of the artist, or the era they are from may have a large impact on the meaning of their work. Sometimes I look for this information first, and sometimes I look for it last so I can look at the artwork without any preconceived notions. The more artwork you look at, the more you'll begin to recognize automatically, like the style of a specific movement.
Look at the work and think about what you see. Also, think about what you don’t see. Try to look at art without immediately projecting your feelings or interpretation onto it. It may not be what it first looks like.
René Magritte (The Treachery of Images [This is Not a Pipe]). 1929.
Meaning can come to you very softly and slowly, you don’t have to rush to that point. First, observe the content– who or what is on the canvas and how is it presented? Notice all of its parts. Then consider how the artist manipulated the content and what they might be trying to communicate through it.
Keep an open mind. You should always assume that the artist meant to make the work look that way. If the painting looks weird, the artist wanted it to look weird. It’s not every artist's goal to make a painting look representational or naturalistic.
It’s a matter of style. Style can be dependent on the individual or the culture. Sometimes art is idealized, meaning it looks somehow more perfect than reality. Sometimes, art is expressionist, which usually looks a little chaotic and wild, and is meant to communicate emotion. Sometimes art is entirely abstract and is only expressive marks or random pieces. Don’t assume the artist didn't have the skill to make art lifelike, beautiful, or the way you think it should look. That’s irrelevant. If you’re focused on what you think it should be, you’ll miss out on what is actually there.
Then, try to use your observation to piece together what is being depicted. Consider the figures and what they represent, and if there is a narrative or theme being portrayed. Make connections to what you already know. If the work is abstract, observe the marks made by the artist. What is the overall mood of the artwork? How does it make you feel?
Formal Elements
Moving past the basics of visual analysis, we can look into the work for the formal elements and the principles of design. The formal elements of art are basic terms we use to communicate visually; line, light, color, shape, pattern, space, and time.
Line
Linear marks made by artistic mediums like paint or pencil are actual lines. Implied lines are not made physically but still can make up the composition– dotted lines that don't connect, the horizon in a landscape, the pointed hand on the outstretched arm of a figure.
Carmen Herrera, Untitled Estructura (Black), 1966/2016 © Carmen Herrera; Courtesy Lisson Gallery
Notice the vertical actual lines and the jagged, implied line in Herrera's work.
The direction of lines can indicate meaning. Viewers can draw from their own real world experience. Horizontal lines, like a sleeping body, could indicate rest, peace, or inactivity. Vertical lines may suggest aspirational reaching or standing at attention. Diagonal lines would suggest action, like all the diagonal lines of a runner. Curving lines may suggest movement, or the organic lines of nature. Line quality– if a line is thick or thin, or sketchy or bold– can also convey meaning.
Ogata Korin, Rough Waves, ca. 1704-9, Courtesy Met Museum
"Rough Waves" strives to capture the amorphous tide in ink by using line quality.
Light and Value
Art may utilize natural and artificial light, like in sculpture or architecture. In 2D art, artists use value to represent shades of light and dark. Artists manipulate light to create form by mimicking shadows and plasticity in 3D objects. Value can also portray emotion. For example, high contrast visuals look dramatic.
Sante D'Orazio, White Beluga Whale at Coney Island Aquarium, 1975
The harsh contrast between light and dark brings intensity to the mood of the photo.
Color
Color consists of three properties. Hue– the state of a color, like red or blue; value– lightness or darkness within a hue; and intensity– the dullness or saturation of a hue. Color can be warm or cool, which affects the viewer's experience. There is a lot to learn about color theory because color is so subjective. It interacts with its environment and the colors around it, and can be very complex. The interaction between the colors causes our eye to see them differently. Color is also largely symbolic, like the colors of a nation’s flag, or red being the color of passion.
Shape
Regular shapes are often geometric and identifiable like triangles and squares. Irregular shapes are organic and spontaneous, like a patch of light or a mark made by a paintbrush.
Josef Albers, Homage to the Square: With Rays, 1959, © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Egyptian, Leaf Pendant, ca. 1390 B.C., Via Met Museum
Texture and Pattern
Texture can be tactile or visual. A marble sculpture of a figure would be physically smooth to the touch, but visually, the artist might represent soft flesh or sinuous muscle. Texture and pattern are related, as pattern may be perceived as texture and vice versa. Pattern is an arrangement of repeated form, and they can be natural, like in leaves and flowers, or geometric, with mathematical shapes and lines.
The pattern is meant to mimic the appearance of a natural leaf and add texture.
Space
Texture can be tactile or visual. A marble sculpture of a figure would be physically smooth to the touch, but visually, the artist might represent soft flesh or sinuous muscle. Texture and pattern are related, as pattern may be perceived as texture and vice versa. Pattern is an arrangement of repeated form, and they can be natural, like in leaves and flowers, or geometric, with mathematical shapes and lines.
Paul Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902-6, Courtesy Met Museum
The blue mountain seems far away, past the houses.
Time and Motion
Time and motion functions differently across mediums. As we view sculpture, we observe several viewpoints as we move through or around it. Painting and drawing can have an illusion of motion through mark making. Film, dance, and other performance depend on time and motion.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Apollo and Daphne, 1622-1625, Photo by Daniel Kelly
"Apollo and Daphne" seems to have a sequence of motion as the viewer moves around the sculpture.
Formal Elements
Design principles are terms to communicate how the formal elements are used, and what kind of effect that has on the work and the viewer: balance, rhythm, proportion and scale, emphasis, unity and variety.
Balance
Balance results from the manipulation of visual weight within a composition. A part of an artwork that is large, more detailed, or more intense in color has more weight. If a piece of art has symmetrical balance, that means weight is distributed evenly, as opposed to uneven elements which are asymmetrical, or when elements radiate out of a central point which is radial balance. Symmetry will often seem harmonious, asymmetry may seem more dynamic, and radial symmetry may even seem mystic.
Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa, Dome, Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque), completed 1617, Istanbul via iStockPhoto
Pattern
Patterns can be used to communicate rhythm through repetition, or by leading our eyes through a composition. Visual rhythm can be regular, alternating or eccentric, and a work may have different combinations of the three to express the right pace and movement in the work.
Terracotta fragment of a kylix (drinking cup), Greek, 500-490 BCE, via The Met
Proportion and Scale
Proportion is the relative size of part of a composition. Artists may study proportions so they can create life-like drawings or they may subvert proportion to try to express a new perspective. Scale is when the artist plays with the size of something and our expectations of it, a device that often occurs in sculpture, but can appear anywhere. A large painting with large subject matter will approach the viewer and feel quite intimate, as opposed to a very small painting, which won't have as much room for detail.
42-meter inflatable sculpture by KAWS, 2021, Marina Bay in Singapore, Photo by Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images
Emphasis
The part of the work viewers are meant to focus on will be most emphasized. The artist can make the focal point stand out in many ways by employing the elements of art, like adding a bright accent of color to an otherwise dull photograph.
Hierarchy is a useful tool, related to both proportion and emphasis. When looking at religious art, the figure most high or with the most emphasis is the holiest. When looking at advertisements, the most important object or message will have the most emphasis.
Andy Warhol, Detail of The Last Supper, 1986, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Unity and Variety
Unity and Variety are counterparts, and the balance of the two is what makes art interesting to look at. Unity is achieved when elements, like color, are all of the same nature. Variety adds contrast and spontaneity.
Keith Haring, Save Dauphine, 1988, via ArtBanx
The purpose of all of this is communication. Artwork can express something very specific, like a well known myth, or something intangible, like ecstasy. By familiarizing ourselves with the ways artists communicate, we can have better visual literacy, which adds depth to the world around us. When we understand art, we can better understand architecture, advertisements, movies, and all of the visual elements of our everyday lives, as well as having true appreciation for the previously unattainable fine art.