Chapter V
Further Examples
One of the few examples of contemporary painters depicting the same scene can be found below. The painting on the right is completely harmonious. We can quickly notice what is missing from the other one.
Claude Monet
Bain à la Grenouillère
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
La Grenouillère
Let’s see what happens when a harmonious composition is recast in a different style:
Paul Cezanne Le Vase Bleu
E. Szachowski
Despite the change in style and aspect ratio, the relationships between the elements are retained – thus, the modified composition is difficult to improve.
Even introducing minor changes to harmonious paintings can help viewers realise how precise a structure they are dealing with is. Let’s take a look at Paul Gauguin’s painting I Raro Te Oviri (Under the Pandanus):
Original
Modified version
In the modified version, a branch from the top left corner was moved to the right. It reveals a bright patch of sky which draws too much attention, and its appearance on the right reduces the diversity of elements and the overall attractiveness of this part of the composition.
Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon offers another example of the same phenomenon: not reaching or exceeding the preconceived threshold of maximum contrast for the entire composition.
Original: Each element of the painting remains contrasted with all other elements at the same level.
Below the threshold: The women in the middle are not contrasted enough with the sections either side of them.
Above the threshold: Increasing the saturation of blue in the section to the right of the women in the middle makes it stand out too much, decreasing the impact of all other contrasts in the composition.
Other examples below, include Family Picture by Max Beckmann, Self-Portrait by Iwo Zaniewski, and Die Kreuztragung Christi by Pieter Bruegel:
Original (equilibrium)
Below the threshold
Above the threshold
Original
Below Threshold
Above Threshold
Original (equilibrium)
Below the treshold
Above the treshold
Original (equilibrium)
Below the treshold
Above the treshold
Let’s see what happens when original paintings are not completely harmonious. In all the below examples (The Flirting Game by Oleg Zhivetin, Autumn Woods at the Edge of a Cornfield by William Aiken Walker, and Munda y desnuda, la libertad contra la opresión by Roberto Matta) a modification made the painting more attractive to viewers:
Original
Modified version
Original
Modified version
Original
Modified version
On the other hand, the aesthetic evaluation can stay the same even after introducing changes to almost every part of a painting, as portrayed in below Battle of Grunwald by Jan Matejko:
Original
Modified version