The complex composition of a painting

The complex composition of a painting

The complex composition of a painting is the organization of the elements within the painting according to the principles of art. This organization works to gather to bring out the hidden meaning of the painting, which can get deduced from how the elements are organized. An example is Leonardo da Vinci’s The Mona Lisa. The painting has very few elements. The main element of the painting is the woman, Mona Lisa, who is comfortably sited on an armchair with one hand folded and the other hand holding onto the chairs arm. The background of the painting consists of dense vegetation which represents beautiful scenery. The woman in the painting is composed judging from the posture by which she sits which represents nobility. She is looking at the foreground which allows the viewer to be able to maintain visual contact with the painting as her eyes are embedded on the viewer which gives her a lively look. The use of outlines on the picture by the artist makes the woman in the painting to appear as though she is smiling which gives the picture a lively mood.

Minimal representation in art involves a situation the various personal expressions within the work of art is kept to a deducted in order to allow the works of art to have a more literal presence. In does not incorporate features that allow for representation of hidden meanings as things are able to appear as they are seen within the painting. This makes it easier for the viewer to be able to deduce the meanings as portrayed by the paintings. The period of the baroque paintings date back to the seventeenth century where the art produced portrayed minimal emotional and dramatically representation as it did not place much concentration on the author rather worked to bring out the ideas of the painting in utter simplicity. An example of the Baroque painting is Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride. The components include a man and a woman placed in the foreground standing at close proximity to one another. The background of the painting suggests that the couple is in a particular room. Other than the representation that can be seen, there are very few features incorporated into the painting which makes the painting to come out in simplicity as a representation of an affectionate couple who are bound by the love and affection they have towards one another which is portrayed from their posture in the painting.

The renaissance art and the baroque art contrast in their mode of representation. The renaissance art the elements are independent in their representation to bring out meaning. In the example of The Mona Lisa is able to bring out the singular representation of the elements as the painting only has one significant element which can be analyzed to establish a clear meaning of what the painting represents. It also incorporates a complex composition which includes several artistic features used by the artist in the representation of the painting in order to give it more meaning. The baroque painting however, works in unity in order to provide significant meaning to the painting. This is portrayed in The Jewish Bride as we are able to see how the elements in the painting work together to bring out a particular meaning of love and affection to the painting. The elements in the baroque painting when analyzed independently come out as ambiguous as they do not display a clear purpose hence the baroque favors unity among the elements in the painting. To bring out a more unified total motive.

Section V

Absolute versus Relative Clarity

In absolute clarity, the artist incorporates the use of light in the painting to be able to make the viewer have a clear view of the elements in the painting. The elements are conspicuous which makes the viewed to easily understand and assimilate the elements to be able to draw their conclusion on the representation of the elements in the painting. Absolute clarity is also essential as it allows the viewer to be able to take note of even the hidden elements in the painting. The use of the clarity in the Renaissance paintings signifies the fact that all the elements play a significant role in their depictions of the painting. In The Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci uses sufficient light which allows the viewer to be able to take note of the tiny details within the painting such as the background in the painting and the woman on the painting which is viewed independently. The use of the sufficient light in the painting brings out absolute clarity which enables the viewer take not of all the aspects of the various elements within the painting which include some of the facial features of the woman and the action of the woman in how she is represented in the picture and hence how the woman relates to the background in the picture.

In relative clarity, the elements in the painting tend to be darker which bring out the impression that some of the elements within the painting do not have much significance. This relative clarity brings out bias in the painting as some elements do not get a clear representation which allows us to focus on particular aspects of the paintings which are deemed to be the aspects of the painting with most significance. In The Jewish Bride, the aspect6 of relative clarity comes out clear as we are able to see the difference in the representation of the elements in the fore ground and the background. While the elects in the fore ground, the man and the woman come out clearly in the representation, the background is dark and hence cannot be clearly seen hence our attention is shifted to the elements in the foreground which are the central focus of the painting. The artist uses this technique to limit the viewer to the elements in the foreground.

In The Mona Lisa, the artist incorporates the use of light which is used in equal proportion all over the painting in being able to represent the elements of the painting. Through absolute clarity, all elements can be perceived and hence analyzed independently in relation to the motive behind the representation of the painting. Absolute clarity however makes the clarity of specific elements within the painting come out as accidental. In The Jewish Bride, we are able to see the element of relative clarity which makes it difficult to focus on the elements represented in the entire painting as a whole as some aspects of the painting appear to be less significant than others.