The Seven Elements of Art

Developing a composition involves rearranging the elements of art to provide meaning, feeling, purpose, aesthetics, and/or a storytelling aspect to a work of art.

Before I delve into some tips on how to design a composition, I need to go over the elements of art. Then in Part 2, I’ll go over the principles of art. It’s good to have an understanding of the elements and principles so that you understand what tools you have at your disposal before we discuss some thoughts that will help you to design your next composition in Part 3.

There are seven elements of visual art that can be used to design a composition. They are shape, line, value, texture, form, color, and space. I’ll give a definition and point back to Van Gogh’s Starry Night to provide examples of each element.

1. Shape

   A 2-dimensional flat image that is limited by height and width. The shape can be used to tell a story, provide a feeling, guide the eye around an image, or provide a focal point. The Cypress tree in Van Gogh’s painting is the most imposing shape in the composition. It serves to direct the viewer’s attention to the stars in the sky.

2. Line

   A point moving in space. It can be directional, abstract, implied, 2-dimensional, or 3-dimensional. In Starry Night, Van Gogh used lines all over with his paint brush strokes to convey movement and light.

3. Value

   Value is defined as the light and dark areas within the artwork. Values are used to denote shadows, the 3-dimensional nature of objects, and spatial relationships. In Starry Night, the artist used value to make the city, night sky, and Cypress tree dark forms. He then chose brighter hues and lighter values to make the stars and moon pop out.

4. Texture

   Texture provides information about how something might feel if we were to touch it. Texture can also be used to evoke a feeling or provide meaning. Rough water, for example, might give the feeling of unease as opposed to smooth water which could evoke a feeling of calm. In the painting above, Van Gogh’s use of lines provides a rough texture for the painting. His broad strokes help us to see the light of the stars and more more impactfully.

5. Form

   The form is like a shape, but it includes the 3-dimensional aspect of volume. It is something that has height, width, and volume. In Starry Night, some subjects are flat and so they are shapes, but other objects have perspective and therefore are forms. The latter would apply for the buildings in the town below. Van Gogh painted them in a 3-dimensional manner.

6. Color

   Color has three properties: hue (what we think of as the color), value (the lightness or darkness of the hue), and saturation (how pure the hue is or the closest it is to its purest state). The post-impressionists loved to use contrasting colors to make their works more dramatic, as was the case with this painting. Van Gogh’s use of yellow and blue make this a very dramatic piece.

7. Space

   There are positive and negative spaces in works of art. Positive spaces are filled with a shape or a form, and negative spaces are meant to imply space where there is no object. The combination of positive and negative space provides a sense of depth to a work. In the image above, the tall imposing Cypress tree points us to the sky that is filled with both empty space and heavenly bodies.

Famous Artworks Depicting the 7 Elements of Art

Now let’s take a look at how some famous artists have used the elements of art to create pieces that are still admired today. I will use each piece to touch on one of the elements, although, of course, each piece may depict many or all of the elements.

Shape- Grant Wood’s Parson Weem’s Fable

Grant Wood is the artist who created the famous painting, American Gothic. He also painted this depiction of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree.

Wood used many of the elements of art to focus our attention, but I am struck by his use of shape. This painting has a lot of circles and curves in it. They are used to guide the viewer’s eye around the painting and ultimately to George Washington who was caught in the act of chopping down the tree. Circle shapes were used for the tree tops and the base of the tree. The curtain and bent trunk of the tree are curved lines that frame George Washington in the middle, therefore providing a focal point for the viewer.

Line- Paul Gaugin’s Still Life With Teapot and Fruit

Paul Gaugin was friends and an admirer of Paul Cezanne. He had purchased one of Cezanne’s still-life works called, Still Life with Fruit Dish (1879-80). Cezanne’s piece was treasured by Gaugin, and his work above was his take on it.

Gaugin used lines to create shape and form in this piece. Note the dark lines around the mangos. As a post-impressionist artist, he didn’t hold to the old standards of making sure you couldn’t see a line at the edge of a subject. Instead, he used black lines to enhance his subjects. His work still depicts values which provide shadows, but the forms are less 3-dimensional as a result.

Value- Carravagio’s The Denial of St. Peter

Caravaggio painted this work near the end of his life when he was using more of this type of style. He used a sharp contrast in values to depict dark and light areas in this painting. By playing with the effects of light and shading he draws our eye to the accusing woman and then Peter. This dramatic painting effect was called Chiaroscuro, which means “light-dark” in Italian. It is very striking and dramatic to the eye to see a lighter subject against a dark background, and this was achieved by using less mid-tone value changes. Caravaggio focused on the lightest and darkest values instead.

Texture- Turner’s Rain, Steam, and Speed- The Great Western Railroad

Turner made the summer rain evident by painting curved strokes coming from the sky. The texture created by the paint brush marks makes us feel wet when looking at this composition where the rain, steam, and water under the bridge all meld together. He also showed movement of the train with the texture of the steam puffs. We can tell that the train is moving towards us because we can see the steam flowing behind the train.

Form, Gustave-Caillebott’s The Parquet Planners

The main two ways to show form are line and shading or value changes. Gustave-Caillebott masterfully used both of these elements to depict form in his painting, The Parquet Planners. He used lines to create a sense of perspective in the room, and he used shading on the people to enable us to see them as 3-dimensional subjects.

Color- Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

Van Gogh used analogous colors for this painting of sunflowers. Analogous colors are next to each other on the color wheel. Analogous colors create unity in a piece because they are so close to each other on the wheel. He used different hues of yellow, orange, green, and a smidge of blue for this piece.

Space- John Sloan’s South Beach Bathers

There are many techniques that can be used to imply space in a two-dimensional work of art. John Sloan employed many of them in this piece. We can tell that the people in the lower portion of the painting are closer to us because the size of the subjects in the foreground are larger than the subjects in the background. The foreground has more clarity whereas the background is hazier, which makes the ocean and island seem further away. The color is more saturated upfront and subdued or faded out in the background. He used foreshortening when painting the people’s arms and legs, which gives us a sense of how they are moving in space. And finally, he used proportion and overlapping of subjects to provide a sense of space.

Conclusion

Creating an interesting composition can be confusing, but not if you start with the basics. My hope is that by reacquainting ourselves with the elements of art and providing examples of how they have effectively been used in the past that we may be inspired to use them to create interesting compositions.

Did you find this blog helpful? Did you already know about the elements of art? Love to hear your thoughts.