The flatness of the painting is further enhanced by the diamond shaped moulding and the circular handle of the cupboard in the background. This has the effect of flattening the composition and emphasizing the abstract outline of its shapes. In 'Still Life with a Peach and Two Green Pears' Cézanne tilts the perspective of the plate towards the picture plane. When Paul Cézanne began to distort the perspective of representational shapes in his paintings, art took its first steps on a journey that led it through the partial abstraction of Cubism and Futurism to a range of pure abstract styles including Suprematism, Constructivism, De Stijl, Abstract Expressionism, Op Art and Minimalism. 'The Blue Fan' also uses accurate representational shapes which play a major role in the composition of the work but the balance of the other visual elements is altered for creative effect: tone and texture are suppressed to allow the expressive qualities of shape, color and pattern to flourish.Ībstract shapes, modified by the other visual elements, are the subject matter of Abstract Art. To discover more about the hidden secrets of this artwork please explore our page on Harmen Steenwyck - Vanitas Still Life Painting. Each object has a unique symbolic meaning and works together to create a moral narrative within the group. It is painted with a remarkably realistic technique but it is more than just an example of skilled craftsmanship.

'Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life' is the pinnacle of representational art. Both are still life paintings that use accurate representational shapes but the former evolves as an outstanding study of tone and texture while the latter abstracts and develops color as a major theme of the work. For example, compare the exquisite detail of 'Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life' by Harmen Steenwyck to 'The Blue Fan' by Francis Cadell at the top of the page. It can be stylized with various levels of detail, from a simple monochrome outline to a fully rendered form with color, tone, pattern and texture. Realism, however, is not the sole objective of representational art. Representational art is the blanket term we use to describe any artwork whose shapes are drawn with some degree of visual accuracy. Representational shapes attempt to reproduce what we see to a greater or lesser degree. We have analyzed each of these to demonstrate how great artists use this visual element as a creative force in their work. Our selection of artworks illustrated below have been chosen because they all use shape in an inspirational manner. Inverted Triangles can create a sense of imbalance and tension Triangles can lead the eye in an upward movement Squares and Rectangles can portray strength and stabilityĬircles and Ellipses can represent continuous movement The Behaviour of Shapes: Shapes can be used to control your feelings in the composition of an artwork: The technique we use to describe this change is called perspective drawing.

The Perspective of Shapes: The angles and curves of shapes appear to change depending on our viewpoint. T he Visual Element of Shape can be natural or man-made, regular or irregular, flat (2-dimensional) or solid (3-dimensional), representational or abstract, geometric or organic, transparent or opaque, positive or negative, decorative or symbolic, colored, patterned or textured.

Organic shapes painting