Art Principles

Artists use a wide variety of techniques to give their pieces meaning. These principles are essential to creating meaningful and beautiful pieces of art. Not all artists use each and every principle, it's what makes analyzing art so interesting. Not all principles are applied at once making each composition unique.

Unity is used to combine all of the elements in a piece to create balance and harmony. Repetition, continuation, and pattern are just some of the methods used to create unity. This painting by Swedish artist, Nick Alm is a great example of unity. The subjects are visually similar. The colors of their clothes are consistent as a pattern, black, white, black.

Asymmetrical balance is a crucial part of art. Seeing as how all works cannot be perfectly symmetrical, balance is incredibly important. Balancing a painting can define the subject matter and set the mood for the piece. Famous piece, Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, is a great example of asymmetrical balance. Although we see a heavy prominent object on the left, the color and depth of the right of the painting creates a sense of balance. In other words, the painting does not feel off center.

Scale is used to create meaning. Using a human scale is especially relatable, as we can compare ourselves to the mass of an object. In the image on the left, we see the enormous scale of a hand. Although we are not physically seeing the size of the hand, we understand that a hand could not possibly be that large. This gives us a sense of the scale of the painting.