Art Checkpoint

Formal Analysis of Art

Diego Velazquez is an artist who has a painting called “Las Meninas.” Diego uses space to grab the viewer’s eyes towards many places he wanted to emphasize. He demonstrated that he wanted people to focus towards the “young princess, the infanta margarita”, for the reason that she is the center of the painting (sayre,2010). Furthermore, the lights shines on her face, her blonde hair also seems to be highlighted. The painter Velazquez also put two ladies one to the right of her and one to the left of her while both facing her direction, which draws more focus to margarita. However, he also put several people around her that weren’t looking at her, but at the viewer so that their attention “lies outside the picture plane” (sayre, 2010).

In the picture there is a couple in the mirror, which he had placed behind on the left side, many speculate that this couple in the picture was in fact looking at the other couple who are having a portrait done. This is a fabulous and very well good use of space, since he leaves the viewers to think about the reason why they are placed this way; and makes viewers draw conclusion to where the focal point of the portrait is.

Edward Hopper is the type of an artist who is known for always trying to attract the eyes of his viewers towards the feeling of isolation and solitude in the painting “nighthawks.” The colors in this painting represent light and emotion, a good example would be the inside color of a restaurant, where it seems so unreal with the beige, orange and many different colors on the walls that seems to be unfriendly and harsh. The light inside contrast with the darkness of the outside, which make you feel no activity whatsoever in it. Another thing is that the light also creates an effect of loneliness. If the viewer looks into the street, he or she will see an empty dark place with shadows, except that it is bright enough to see the moon. The street is even darker when viewed through the window...