How to Make a Masterpiece

Artists, like chefs, use a variety of ingredients to make art. The way they’re combined influences the final piece, just as a chef’s mixture of ingredients makes a meal spicy or sweet. Art’s ingredients, called the elements of art, are line, shape/form, space, color, value, and texture (see chart below). Artists compose, or arrange, the elements in endless ways to create vastly different works of art. 

Artists use line to determine the edges of the images they’re depicting. Lines can have different qualities.

Shapes are two-dimensional. Forms are three-dimensional—in appearance or in actuality (as in a sculpture).

Artists who paint or draw create the illusion of space on a flat surface. Sculptors create work using physical space.

The three primary colors—red, yellow, and blue—are used to make all other colors. Artists use color to create mood.

Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. Artists use value to shade images and add light and shadows.

Texture means surface quality. It can be the way a painting or sculpture actually feels or an illusion like this feather.

Can you tell how Van Gogh sets up the illusion of physical space on the picture plane (two-dimensional art surface)? Take a look at the cypress tree in the foreground. Compare its size with the steeple of the church. Which is closer to the viewer? In the middle ground, the artist paints rolling hills on the horizon, which separate the sky from the land. The night sky in the background occupies nearly two thirds of the canvas. Which part of the painting demands the most attention?

Blue is the dominant hue, or color, in The Starry Night. How many different values (shades) of blue can you identify in it? The artist paints the stars, the moon, and a band of light on the horizon in yellow and white. These highlights (brighter colors) also reflect off the roofs in the town, giving the entire work a mysterious glow. 

Van Gogh used a painting technique called impasto on this work. He spread paint thickly across the canvas. The thick paint makes the brushstrokes more visible. By changing the direction of his brushstrokes, the artist gives the painting a dense texture, or surface quality. The thick paint also gives the work an uneven surface that has its own natural highlights and shadows when light shines on it.