One of the most fundamental tools of art is line. Lines can divide objects in the picture and they can connect together to create an object. Lines also reflect movement and express the artist’s feelings and point of view of his or her environment.
Van Gogh’s paintings are considered very expressive works of art, by many people. Van Gogh’s use of line is free and loose, and almost out of control. Nonetheless, his work is consistent enough to recognize objects in the painting. The use of line Van Gog used in his work is autographic; the free and loose lines are his signature in every work. Van Gogh’s paintings show us how anguished and tormented he was. On the other hand, Sol Lewitt’s work shows us a different personality from Van Gogh’s. Lewitt’s lines are controlled, logical, and rationally organized, while Van Gogh’s are imprecise and chaotic. Lewitt does not produce his work himself, but writes instructions for the museum staff to execute them. The lines in Lewitt’s paintings are mathematically précised and geometrical; the lines in Lewitt’s paintings are his signature because they always consist on vertical and horizontal lines that create squares. The geometrical lines represent a sense of order in Lewitt’s work.
In “Las Meninas” from Diego, Velazquez, the space is used to draw the viewer’s eyes to more than one place in the painting. It seems that Velazquez wanted to first draw the viewer’s attention to the princess, the infanta Margarita because she is in the middle of the painting and forward. Additionally, there is light in her face and several people seem to be looking at her. However, not all people in the painting are looking at the princess Margarita, but at the viewer so their attention "lies outside the picture plane" (Sayre, 2010). In the very back of the painting, there is a reflection of a couple, in the mirror; the viewer can assume that these people are looking at the couple who is having their portrait painted. Because of the interesting use of space in Diego Velazquez’s painting, the viewer makes him or herself questions of why some people are faced in certain directions, what they are looking at, or what they seem to be doing at the moment. This use of space is what makes the painting very vivid real.
In the Edward Hopper painting, “Nighthawks”, the artists is trying to portray the isolation of the average American; the colors are the way Hopper represents these emotions. First of all, the color inside the restaurant is very bright and clearly artificial. The main colors are yellow, beige, and orange, and together give the sensation plain and unwelcoming feeling. In the painting, the people seem to be isolated from one another and could suggest that humans are alone even though they have family and friends. It also tells me that people is alone when they face several problems in life. The colors outside the restaurant are dark and there is no sign of activity. The street is very dark except to the part where the streetlamp is and the man is just facing the dark side. I get a feeling of sadness and loneliness; it makes me think that the man drinking alone is depressed and sees the world as dark and sad.
Organizational space, lines and the use of colors have the power to show and reflect emotions of the artists and the way he or she sees it. The use of all space, colors, and lines can create either a very realistic scenario or unreal.
References
· Sayre, H. M. (2010). A World of Art (6th ed.). : Pearson Education Inc..
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