Famous Paintings With Gestalt Principles

Paintings and Gestalt

This blog looks at paintings and how the different laws have been applied – although many were done before Gestalt became a concept and a branch of psychology.

It starts by looking at the first painter, Auber, who consciously applied the principles based on his study of 'simultaneous contrast', before looking at two other notable artist. It then reviews a number of paintings for some of the Gestalt rules

Early Years

Although Gestalt psychology began in Germany in 1910 , it took around 15 years before it was picked up as a concept in the art world. However the principal had been used as part of the normal compositional techniques for thousands of years.

Albers was one of the first to directly study Gestalt in paintings due to his interest in "simultaneous contrast," which von Dürckheim (ref @@) discussed in his lectures on Gestalt . Recognized and used by artists for centuries, the effect was described scientifically in 1839 by a French chemist, Michel-Eugene Chevreul, who essentially found that a color may appear to change, often dramatically, when moved from one background to another. This is an example of his work (entitled 1976-1-1341). I have also attached a photographic version that I found at one of the degree shows. Other artist who also studied Gestalt were Paul Klee, Vasily Kandinsky

albers-600x597 General_degree_show-19

The other great artist that I feel had a 'consistent ' Gestalt feel to their work were Van Gough, and MC Escher. Van Gough brush work combined, proximity, similarity, closure and continuity to his work that could engage the viewer for house. Many of MC Escher's work are superb examples of combining the Gestalt laws of proximity, similarity, closure and continuity in a way that creates illusion, through and art techniques, visual understanding and mathematics.

Art and Gestalt Rules

This section briefly looks at the different Gestalt rules and links them to famous artist.

Figure/Ground

One of the major aspects of Gestalt Psychology is the theory of figure-ground perception. Gestalt psychologists believed when people are shown pictures of items or "figures" against a background, the figures tend to stand out from the background behind them. For example, if we were shown a picture of a piano against a wall, we would immediately notice the piano (object) stands out, rather than the wall (background). Even when humans are shown vague images made of ink shading or spots, they are inclined to perceive a picture of a specific figure.

This is the idea that speaks to the human mind's tendency to separate figures from their backgrounds. These differences can be furthered by utilizing a number of different techniques which can include contrast, color, intensity, and size.

In contrast to how Matisse used Gestalt principles, (see closure below), to make his figures stand out in space, the French artist Vuillard played around with blending the background and the figures present in the image below. Notice how the woman who is closest to us seems to almost disappear into the background while the man at the door has a sharp contrast against the pattern. Vuillard was playing with the principles of Gestalt here to highlight how our eyes generally view paintings. By making the man at the door seem to pop to the front this creates a tension in the painting that some find desirable.

vuillard

Similarity

This is the Gestalt theory that states that the viewer tends to group together objects which share the same characteristics such as shape, size, color, texture, and value. In the Degas painting below he employed many different circle shapes (in the form of the hats) in order to create a sense of unity throughout the painting. The hats also have similar textures which help group them together. Notice how powerful color intensity is and how the hats which are brighter are easily grouped together while the other hats which are darker are a different group altogether

degas

Proximity

Proximity can be referred to as grouping which are similar or have similarity. However, there is a difference between similarity and proximity as we can see that the objects don't need to all be the same size in order to be grouped by the brain. In the Chardin painting below you can see how the apples are grouped together even though they are different sizes. Grouping can be achieved by shape, color, tone, and space.

chardin

Closure

Closure is the idea that the brain will fill in any extraneous information which is not present in the image. This is a common tactic employed by both painters as well as designers.

In the Matisse painting below there is a clear differentiation between figure and ground and there is closure. It is also important to notice the ground as the negative space around the figures. Matisse utilized contrast, as well as color to make the figures come to the front of the painting, and push the background back in space

matisse

Continuity

Continuity is the idea that the eye will continue to look in a direction in which it is pushed by the forms and shapes present. In the painting below by Tiepolo our eyes are first drawn to the main subject which is the man riding a horse holding a large weapon. The weapon is pointing down at a figure which lie dead on the ground. By utilizing the Gestalt principle of continuity Tiepolo pushes the eyes of the viewer to move around the canvas. Carthage-tiepolo

Symmetry and Order

Symmetry and Order refers to the idea of how balance, and symmetry give the composition an overall feeling of solidity and structure. In Raphael's painting below we can see how by having a clear sense of symmetry adds to the structure of the entire composition. Notice how the figures aren't perfectly symmetrical on both sides of the work, however they are still balanced and neither side seems too "heavy". – In fact we prefer a slight imbalance to hold our interest – and to give us a sense of truth – see photo of the legs – if they were perfect then we would think them false. The larger idea at play here is that viewers want to "read" a painting in a systematic and organized manner. Some viewers who find a painting which is too difficult to read may spend less time trying to comprehend it. While clearly balanced compositions will be more accessible. This is not to say that every composition needs to be perfectly balanced and symmetrical, there are many examples of artists who play with the idea of symmetry and balance and still are quite successful. – MC Escher for example – see below. school of athenes gestalt-1-8

References

Art, Design and Gestalt Theory

Roy R. Behrens, (artist, writer, teacher), 2022 X Avenue, Dysart, IA 52224-9767, U.S.A. E-mail: ballast@netins.net.

Gestalt Principles of Art and Design http://painting-course.com/445/oil-painting/gestalt-principles-of-art-and-design/

Gestalt Theory and Musicology – Psychology of Art and Music

(extract from D. Brett King and Michael Wertheimer: Max Wertheimer & Gestalt Theory, New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers, pp. 370-371)