ART H340 Painting
Fall 2005

Instructed by Ralph Larmann
LECTURE 3

Pieter Breughel the Elder, Flemish
Harvesters, 1565, oil on wood
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

• Notice all the leading shapes and the orientation of the subject so that a viewer is led through the work.

Pieter Breughel the Elder, Flemish
Hunters in the Snow, 1565, oil/wood
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna

• This work also uses repetition to create a rhythmic compositional structure. Notice the way that a viewer is encouraged to move from the left (hunters) into the valley below.

Thomas Hart Benton, American
Hailstorm, 1940, tempera/panel
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska

• Benton uses shapes that have a simlar character to create rhythmic harmonies in his compositions. Notice the lack of vertical and horizontal lines and the presence of strong undulating ones.

Thomas Hart Benton, American

• In this landscaape, Benton also uses general shape to convey place and create rhythmic compositional markers. Notice how he uses the color red in several locations to spread the viewer's attention to several different locations.