Composition

How it is used

A key word in visual analysis and art school critiques. A composition can be balanced, symmetrical, crowded, dynamic or diagonal. People say a composition leads the eye, is built around a triangle or is off-centre.

Example sentences

1. The composition is built on a strong diagonal running from the bottom left to the top right.

2. Before you start painting, make three small sketches to test different compositions.

Common collocations

• balanced composition
• pyramidal composition
• asymmetrical composition
• the overall composition

Related terms

• focal pointThe part of an artwork that draws the viewer's eye first and holds attention, often created through contrast, light, colour or the direction of lines.
• foregroundThe part of a picture that seems closest to the viewer, usually at the bottom; the areas behind it are the middle ground and the background.
• proportionThe size of one part of an artwork or figure compared with another part or with the whole, for example the size of the head compared with the body.
• perspectiveA method of showing depth and distance on a flat surface, for example by making parallel lines meet at a point and painting distant things smaller.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• composition · Graphic Design
• composition · Photography
• composition · Fashion & Textiles

More terms: Visual Elements & Composition

• palette
• contrast
• texture
• chiaroscuro
• vanishing point
• foreshortening