Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room
Includes three contrasting patterns
The blue bed covering, in the lower portion of the painting
The green-and-white striped pattern in the woman’s pajama bottoms
Above the figure is a mottled pattern
The differences in these patterns energize the work
Huqqa base
Elements, such as the flowers and leaves of the plants, recur at intervals
Pashmina carpet with millefleur pattern
Flower-like motifs are arranged in a pattern in the center
Chuck Close, Self Portrait
Uses motif to unify his paintings
Uses a repeated pattern of organic concentric rings set into a diamond shape as the basic building blocks for his large compositions
There is a difference between a close-up view of the painting and the overall effect when we stand back from this enormous canvas
The motif that Close uses is the result of a technical process
A grid that subdivides the entire image organizes the placement of each cell
Uses motif to unify his paintings
Uses a repeated pattern of organic concentric rings set into a diamond shape as the basic building blocks for his large compositions
There is a difference between a close-up view of the painting and the overall effect when we stand back from this enormous canvas
The motif that Close uses is the result of a technical process
A grid that subdivides the entire image organizes the placement of each cell
Hans Arp, Trousse d’un Da
Dada reveled in absurdity, irrationality, the flamboyantly bizarre, and the shocking
Arp worked on creating “chance” arrangements
Arp claimed that the arrangement of the shapes happened by random placement
Pieter Bruegel, Hunters in the Snow
We see not only large rhythmic progressions that take our eye all around the canvas, but also refined micro-rhythms in the repetition of such details as the trees, houses, birds, and colors
The party of hunters on the left side first draws our attention into the work
Our gaze then travels from the left foreground to the middle ground on the right
We then look at the background of the work
As a result of following this rhythmic progression, our eye has circled round the whole picture
Great Mosque of Córdoba
Each of the repeating elements-columns, arches, and voussoirs-creates its own simple rhythm
The accumulation of these simple repetitions also enhances the function of the space and becomes a part of the activity of worship, like prayer beads, reciting the Shahada (profession of faith), or the five-times-a-day call to prayer
Bai-ra-Irrai
The imagery above the entry of this bai begins, at the bottom, with the regular rhythms of horizontal lines of fish, but the images above become increasingly irregular as they change to other kinds of shapes
Goya, The Third of May, 1808 Visual Rhythm in the Composition
It can be divided up into two distinct rhythmic groups
Although the number of figures in each group is the same, they are distributed very differently
The group of French soldiers on the right stands in a pattern so regulated it is almost mechanical
On the left side, the rhythms are irregular and unpredictable
The alternating rhythm in this painting leads our eye from the figure in white, through a group of figures, downward to the victims on the ground
It also helps define our ideas about humanity and inhumanity
Rosa Bonheur, Plowing in the Nivernais: The Dressing of the Vines
A horizontal structure leads our eye in sequence from one group of shapes to the next
Bonheur expertly organizes the composition, emphasizing the cumulative effect of the rhythm of the groupings as they move from left to right
By changing the width of the gaps between the animals, Bonheur suggests their irregular movement as they plod forward
Each group also has a different relative size and occupies a different amount of space, creating a visual rhythm