Elements of Art are observed in the earliest examples of cave paintings. They are universally accepted and found everywhere: personal and public spaces; clothing and jewelry; decorative objects, and nature.

Look at the six-sided "Basic Color Wheel." Keep it minimized until you reach Analogous colors, then switch wheels. Consider the effect different color combinations have on your home décor and clothing choices.

The lighter, the more color you see. White is most reflective, black is least. Imagine yourself in a windowless room. Touches of black create drama.

Picture yourself wearing blue jeans, holding a red apple, sitting in the sunshine. Primary colors exist independently; they are the heart of a color palette. Artists create other colors by mixing them in different combinations and amounts. The addition of white brightens the mixture, black drabs it.

Red + yellow = Orange. Yellow + blue = Green. Red + blue = Violet.

Tertiaries lack the intensity of the primaries. They contribute quiet/ contrast. Combining primary colors, red, blue, and yellow in different amounts with black or white create grey. The combination is prettier than a mixture of black and white. Two complementary colors and a bit of black or white create brown.

Yellow/ violet. Blue/ orange. Red/ green. In a painting, the shadow of a green apple might have red in it and vice versa. These opposites on the Color Wheel make the other one appear brighter, more intense. Designers of clothing, interiors, and commercial products, understand the punch Complementary colors contribute

The complementary color is across from the middle color, also called the mother color. Analogous colors create harmony.

A ray of light separates into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Lines can be any length or width. Draw the outline of a person and a ship with your fingertip on an imaginary canvas. When the outlines of the person and the ship connect two shapes have been created.

Clouds, trees, or other objects may interrupt this line.

The possibility of changing from a vertical to a horizontal position or reverse suggests movement. A diagonal beam of light can be the equivalent of an arrow directing your eye to read something important in the composition. Multiple diagonal lines placed in different directions may be part of a design sequence.

Painters imply 3-dimensions on a 2-dimensional picture plane. Attaching print material or objects, overlapping images, outlining, and shading, with a darker color create the illusion of roundness/ volume on a flat surface.

Shapes are created when lines connect. Some shapes represent living organisms, referred to as biomorphic. A cloud is a shape.

The artist can use thick or thin brushstrokes, outlining, shading, and attached materials.

If the space is significant and much lighter or darker, the image pops creating a dramatic effect. Your eyes have a Space to rest, before looking further, in Negative Space.

A figure or an object is given a sense of depth in space by distorting it to enhance the illusion of Perspective. David's, The Death of Socrates and Picasso's, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon are examples of Foreshortening.

Paint applied in various degrees of thickness suggest texture - referred to as "impasto." Materials attached or painted on the Picture Plane contribute to your sense of texture. You experience the texture of soft skin and fur, or hard metal and wooden objects you recognize.

Create them by mixing a color with white, i.e. pink is a tint of red.

Create them by mixing a color with black, i.e. maroon is a shade of red.

Principles of Design are formal art terms used to describe the methods artists use to create a pleasing composition. Just like Elements of Art, Principles of Design are universally recognized. Some terms are used with great frequency, others less so. Docent’s Guide includes all of them even though a couple are not represented in the Collections.

Links to other paintings are not included because it is helpful to focus on the immediate work. They are intended to inform and give you a sense of what to expect.

A mirror image produces the appearance of sophistication and worldly experience. Imagine two sofas of equal size facing each other, a pair of candlesticks. One overhead chandelier.

This arrangement suggests a casual environment. Imagine a living room with one sofa, two chairs, and miscellaneous single objects and things.

Focal Point is often found near the center of a painting. As you progress through the Western Art History Timeline of visual art, the Focal Point may disappear as some artists focus on a concept or process rather than a narrative.

The High Renaissance style of painting in Florence, Italy is defined by Leonardo da Vinci. The Old Master's ability to incorporate the Sfumato technique he pioneered is evident in his portrait of the Mona Lisa in the Renaissance Collection.His notes tell us light and shade should blend "without lines or borders."

This smoky effect involves the build-up of translucent glazes. Da Vinci's soft shading around Mona's eyes and the corners of her mouth imply volume, and solid form.

The painting has dramatic contrasts of light and shadow from a natural or created light source. Caravaggio's, Cardsharps, in the Renaissance Collection and Walton's, Veiled, in the Postmodern Collection are examples.

The artist uses color and line (Elements of Art) to take you on a visual path so you don't miss anything. If you're exploring a painting several feet wide, this Principle of Design is critical. I suggest that you draw an imaginary, continuous line from lower left to upper left to help you.

Leonardo da Vinci uses the mathematical ratio, Phi 1:1.618, to combine science with art. His use of the “Golden Triangle” is reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian pyramids in Giza. Leonardo places the three most important points of interest within it. His painting of Mona Lisa is shown here. Walton's Veiled, in the Postmodern Collection is another fine example.

Similarly, Botticelli uses a "Golden Rectangle" another of da Vinci's techniques to express Harmony/ Unity. Everything on the Picture Plane is contained within The Birth of Venus.

El Greco's, the Burial of the Count of Orgaz, has both a "Golden Triangle" and a "Golden Rectangle."

When you introduce new decorative objects into your personal space, sometimes you need to move them around until you are pleased with the arrangement.

Groups of people, trees of different heights placed strategically: a fence; columns and window panes are examples of this Principle.

Imagine various heights, sizes, textures, objects, and shapes placed in your home or other interior spaces. El Greco's the Burial of the Count of Orgaz, in the Renaissance Collection, and Lichtenstein's WHAMM! in the Postmodern Collection are examples.

Artists determine if they need to use Perspective, to convey their message. Some combine different kinds of Perspective. As the History of Art Timeline progresses, many artists abandon the need to create the illusion of Perspective.

Links to other paintings are not included because it is helpful to focus on the immediate work. They are intended to inform and give you a sense of what to expect.

Foreground, Middle ground, and Background (three horizontal sections) are implied. Foreground is the section closest to you. Here you see saturated colors and the clearest details. The Middle ground is paler and less distinct. It recedes into Background, the least distinct.

The entire Picture Plane (flat surface) is clearly defined. Colors are equally saturated. Foreground, Middle ground, and Background are lacking to some degree or completely. Van Eyck's The Arnolfini Portrait, in the Renaissance Collection, combines Flat Perspective with suggestions of depth. In Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, in the Modern Collection, Picasso leaves Perspective behind and replaces it with compressed figures and objects shown in a jumble from different angles.

Some artists' faint dots are still noticeable on either side of the Picture Plane. Imagine two lines of railroad tracks (one starts on the left, lower corner, the other on the right. Gradually they narrow at a vanishing point where land and sky meet. THINK - HORIZON LINE.

The artist may create it artificially. Mary Cassatt uses this light source effectively in her painting of The Child’s Bath, in the Modern Collection. THINK - HELICOPTER.

High Renaissance artist, Leonardo da Vinci is credited with perfecting Atmospheric Perspective. THINK- SKY.

The first five listed above are in the order of their early importance in the Western Art History Timeline. Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti, both giants during the High Renaissance in Italy, urge status be given to the intellectual element in Fine Art leading to art academies springing up across Europe. Greater status meant greater potential income. Formerly, Guilds, who represented painters and craftspeople, didn’t distinguish between their abilities.

Beginning in Italy, aspiring young artists learned classical theories. With changing artistic ideas and techniques, some schools became outdated and others, willing to adapt, filled the void.

Links to other paintings are not included because it is helpful to focus on this work. They are intended to inform and give you a sense of what to expect.

For that reason, history is rated highest in the hierarchy of Subject Matter. These paintings have become treasured antiques. Today, documentary photography and electronic imagery combines with factual information to supply supporting text eliminating the need for painting history. Delacroix’s, Liberty Leading the People, in the Renaissance Collection, is an iconic example of a bygone time.

Favorite pets posing with their owners are popular. Regardless of circumstances, artists strive to capture the personality and soul of their subject(s) as much as their physical characteristics. To save money, many painted self-portraits. Van Gogh, in the Renaissance Collection, is noted for his numerous self-portraits.

Artists, influenced by the politics of the day, found this new subject matter refreshing. Farmers cultivating fields, doing chores at home, and enjoying simple family life offered endless opportunities to chronicle. Rather than heroic, noble and glorified classical images, genre mirrored humble lives and gave them dignity. Consider Courbet’s A Burial at Ornans, in the Renaissance Collection.

Scenic views are represented by mountains and valleys, trees and water; in all sorts of locations; real or imagined; figures and animals may be included. Credit is given to Claude Monet’s painting, Impression, Sunrise, for having initiated Impressionism, in the Modern Collection.

Some possibilities are flowers, objects, and small creatures about to be prepared for a meal. Don’t miss Magritte’s, Treachery of Images, in the Modern Collection. Walton’s, Veiled is the first painting on the Home Page scroll. See it in the Postmodern Collection.

Traditional Subject Matter expands with the Postmodern era and Rauschenberg’s Monogram. The artist coins the term “Combine(s)” with this ground-breaking example of 3-Dimensional Form.

LeWitt’s Wall Drawing # 1131 (Whirls & Twirls) in the Postmodern Collection, is painted on the wall by a team of painters who follow LeWitt’s precise instructions. LeWitt sells his work with a contract giving the buyer permission to paint it out and repaint it another time.

Art History scholars don’t always agree on dates. Uncertainty about the date a painting is completed is approximated by preceding it with circa, or the abbreviations c. or ca. When birth and date of death are not exact, you will see this (1445-8). Refer to Renaissance, Modern, and Postmodern eras on the Home Page, and the History & Culture Tab in Step 2., for expanded explanations, if you have yet to read them.

RENAISSANCE (15^th – Mid – 19^th Century) The Printing Press.

MODERN (Mid – 19^th - 20^th Century) Industry and train travel.

POSTMODERN (Mid – 20^th Century – Present) Technology.

Following political strife, these are a few countries who changed their names: Persia to Iran (1935); Peking to Beijing (1958); Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City (1976); and (Burma to Myanmar (1989).

Artists, on their own or collectively, often attempt to sway opinion with their work to advance a cause they support.

Each of the artists represented, in Docent’s Guide:30 Great Artists & Their Paintings, contributed something unique to advance Western Art History. When you sign your name, think of its appearance as having specific characteristics that represent your personal handwriting style.

In keeping with the Roman Catholic faith traditions, Renaissance artists paint iconic, religious symbolism in their imagery for the unschooled masses to understand their meaning. Artists are guided by church officials to insure the underlying message is conveyed accurately, including, in some cases, the use of specific colors.

Secular symbols in paintings may depict worldliness and status. For example: paintings of field hands wearing ordinary clothing, living in modest surroundings indicate a lower status. Conversely, fine clothing and jewelry, lavish interiors and exotic foods and pets express wealth and higher status. In subtle ways, a figure’s demeanor and bearing suggests status.

The next paintings in the Renaissance Era Collection were created by renowned artists. They will contribute to your awareness of Christian & Secular symbolism in Fine Art.

This is a religious work painted in a secular environment in the year 1434. The symbolism is varied and deeply meaningful, in some areas.

Giovanni’s wooden clogs, may hark back to the Book of Exodus: “Put off the shoes from thy feet. . .” which suggests the sacred nature of the occasion. Even though you cannot tell if Giovanna is wearing shoes - red shoes are tucked under the high back chair with the figure of Saint Margaret, the Patron Saint of Women in childbirth, carved into it.

One candle burning in the chandelier in daylight may be symbolic of God’s All Seeing-Eye and a sign of devotion. The visual images of the Passion of Christ are observed in ten scenes surrounding the convex mirror on the wall.

Dogs, for the longest time, have been recognized for their loyalty. More recently, c. Mid-20th Century, the name “Fido” was the light-hearted nick-name of an Italian street dog. The pet was honored with a statue for its fidelity.

El Greco’s distorted figures and forms are designed to reveal the inner spirt of this mystical event. At the time, El Greco’s Mannerist style clearly portrays the sincere religious feelings in Toledo - the religious center of Spain.

Christ and the Virgin Mary are associated with pale blue and rose-pink colors. The Crucifix is the iconic, Christian image held high by a religious attendant of the Roman Catholic Church. According to the legend, Saint Stephen & Saint Augustine were sent to prepare the count’s soul to be transported into heaven. A Miter hat is the ceremonial headdress worn by Cardinals, Bishops, and the Pope. Cherubs are winged little angels who occupy the highest angelic orders in heaven.

The town’s Noblemen have come to pay their respects to the deceased Count Orgaz. El Greco includes himself and his son Jorge. View the painting.

A Priest and two Cardinals officiate in the burial service. The Cardinals are wearing the color red, a sign of their exalted status in the Roman Catholic faith. The Crucifix, with the iconic figure of Jesus crucified is held high. Embroidered on the sheet covering the coffin are crossed bones the symbol of death. An altar boy wears an official garment. He carries a vessel filled with holy water.

The grave-digger, mourners, and the dog. View the painting.