Unity/Variety: Unity and Variety are on two ends of the spectrum when it comes to creating an artwork. Artist’s strive to find a balance in the two to make their artwork interesting. Unity in an artwork provides elements that are the same throughout and variety provides diversity to mix up the unity in the artwork.
Example: Claude Monet - Haystacks. It provides unity in the objects (haystacks) and provides variety in that by giving a range of colors to portray shadows
Balance: It it what makes an artwork visually pleasing to look at, and can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical. Having both sides of an artwork match is a form of symmetry whereas the left differing from the right is a form of asymmetry.
Example: Caravaggio - The Incredulity of Saint Thomas. This provides both asymmetry and symmetry because the heads of the men create a diamond in the top center of the painting but their bodies are painted in different poses and different colors for each side.
Emphasis/Subordination: These are two elements that work together in an artwork to create a main focus. Emphasis is different elements like size, contrast, color, etc. that create a focal point and subordination keeps the focal point on what’s being emphasized by creating areas that aren’t as important.
Example: Johnathan Borofsky - Walking to the Sky. The buildings in the background give good negative space towards the main focus of the people walking on the beam towards the sky. It adds to the scenery and reality of how far high the people are walking but it doesn’t take away from them or what it is they’re doing.
Directional Forces: It influences the way people view the artwork by the actual or suggested lines it implies. Directional forces could often show the underlying or structure that an artwork has to offer.
Example: Rembrandt - Two Studies of a Bird of Paradise. The actual lines of the two birds tails implies that they are in sync together while flying. The variety of multiple line patterns focus our eyes to notice those details and see that they are flying.
Repetition/Rhythm: These two elements are connected by the pattern of flow that goes into an artwork. The recurrence in these patterns allow the artist to express their artwork.
Example: Robert Delaunay - Endless Rhythm. The pattern of circular flow in this artwork is the emphasis of this piece. It isn’t the same color or pattern in each section, but it still portrays the constant circular motion of the piece.
Scale/Proportion: Scale is the difference in size of two objects or more and proportion is the relationship of the size of the objects in the artwork.Â
Example: Georgia O’Keefe - Oriental Poppies. The proportion of the poppies are the same but the scale of them is portrayed to be much larger than they are since they are so up close.