AD01_harmony

The Virtual Art Academy ® Apprentice Program 

Harmony 

Barry John Raybould, MA (Cantab) 

©2004-2013 Barry John Raybould. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, 

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Edition 2.0 www.VirtualArtAcademy.com ©2013 Barry John Raybould

Composition Unit Eight 8 

PRINCIPLE: 

HARMONY 

The overall principle of composition is 

unity and variety. One way of giving a 

painting unity is to create harmony 

within the painting. You create harmony 

in a painting by using various elements 

or components in your painting that are 

similar in one or more respects, even 

though they may differ in another 

respect. The opposite of harmony is 

discord. 

Repetition, harmony and discord 

Attributes 

in common 

Example 

COMPLETE REPETITION 

Do this: harmony 

In this example there is a harmony 

in: 

♦ shape 

♦ size 

♦ hue (both hues are next to 

each other on the color 

wheel), and 

♦ saturation 

Avoid this: discord 

In the above example, there is 

a discord created by the great 

differences between the two 

shapes in: 

♦ shape (curved versus 

angular) 

♦ size (large versus small) 

♦ hue (both hues are far 

apart on the color wheel) 

all 

two 

one 

none 

color 

size 

shape 

texture 

MORE HARMONY 

color 

size 

size 

shape 

LESS HARMONY 

color 

shape 

COMPLETE DISCORD 

Caution 

Harmony on its own is insufficient to make a painting 

interesting. If everything were harmonious then the painting 

would be boring. You must also have contrast to provide the 

variety. The balancing trick is that you have to have enough 

harmony to balance the contrast. If you don’t have enough 

harmony, and have too much contrast, then you will lose unity 

in the painting. The viewer will feel as if the painting is 

confused and that there is nothing holding it together. 

Color harmony 

Colors are harmonious when they are next to each other on the 

color wheel. Within color harmonies you have three sub-types: 

♦ value harmony 

♦ hue harmony 

♦ saturation harmony 

For example, in the following color wheels the colors have 

harmonious hues. 



PRINCIPLE: 

HARMONY (CONTINUED) 

Types of harmony 

There are many different ways to create 

harmony in a painting: 

♦ color harmony 

♦ function harmony 

♦ symbolic harmony 

♦ shape harmony 

♦ size harmony 

♦ texture harmony 

Source 

The Art of Color and Design, Second 

Edition, Maitland Graves, 1951 

Example: color harmony 

Here there is a harmony in color 

between the different sized rose 

blossoms. All the colors are in the red 

and orange families. 

Color harmony (continued) 

In the painting below by Paul Klee, the round shape A, the two 

rectangles B, and the angular shape C, all have very different 

shapes (angular versus curved), which tends to make them 

discordant. However they all have the same red hue and 

approximately the same level of saturation, and so are 

harmonized by color. In addition, the woman's head D and the 

triangular shapes E on the left of the painting are different in 

both size, and shape which tends to make them discordant. 

However they are harmonized by being painted the same 

yellow color. 

E 

D 

A 

B 

C 

Klee Cat. 9777. 

In this painting, the red circle A, triangle B and rectangle C are 

all very different in both size and shape, tending to make them 

discordant, but they are also harmonized by color (red). 

Raybould Cat. 768. 

A 

Counterpoint 

If the concept of your painting is a 

message concept or narrative concept 

about something that involves discord 

such as stress, unease, violence, and so 

on, then you might deliberately want to 

create discord in the design of your 

painting. 

B 

C 




PRINCIPLE: 


In this painting I harmonized the red 

shapes of the buildings, the umbrella 

and even the signature by using the 

same red hue. 

Color harmony (continued) 

In the following painting by Joan Miró, the red elements are 

all very different. They have different shapes, some are 

rectangular in shape, such as A and B, and some are circular in 

shape, such as C. They also have different sizes: some shapes 

are large, such as D, and some shapes are small, such as E. 

However Miró has brought all of these elements into harmony 

by painting them with hues that are harmonious (red and red 

orange). There are also two shapes that stand out in the 

painting: the thin yellow shape F at the bottom and the orange 

shape G at the top. These shapes are different in both size and 

shape, but are harmonized by color since their hues (yellow, 

and yellow orange) are adjacent to each other on the color 

wheel. 

C 

E 

D 


A 

G 

In this painting there is a harmony of 

function in that the objects are all used 

for cooking. 

B 

F 

Miró Cat. 9779. 

Function harmony 

Stupica Cat. 9514. 

There is a harmony between different objects that are 

commonly associated by their use. For example: 

♦ a plate and a knife and fork 

♦ a bottle and a cork 

♦ an ear of wheat and some fruit 

Paintings that contain these objects will have a form of 

harmony. 

Zakharov Cat. 8326. 



PRINCIPLE: 


In this painting I harmonized the rocks 

and the trees by using similar vertical 

lines in both (the trunks of the trees, and 

the cracks in the foreground rocks). 

Symbolic harmony 

There is a harmony between objects 

that are connected through some form 

of literary association such as a dove 

and an olive branch, both of which are 

symbols that represent the literary 

concept of peace. 

In this religious painting you can see 

the lamb and lion at the bottom of the 

painting. These are symbolic of Jesus 

who first came as the lamb of God and 

promises to come again as the Lion of 

Judah. 

El Greco Cat. 8945. 

Line harmony 


In this painting, the three elements A, B and C are very 

different in shape. A is oval, B is triangular, and C is 

rectangular. However Miró has brought all three elements into 

harmony by adding a series of curved lines to them. The green 

oval shape A has these lines attached all around its 

circumference. The green triangular shape B has these curved 

lines built into the contour of one of the sides of the triangle. 

And the rectangular shape C is divided into strips that consist 

of curved wavy lines. 

A 

A 

B 

C 




PRINCIPLE: 


I harmonized this painting by repeating 

curved shapes in the domes of the 

church, and also by repeating dark 

rectangular shapes in the silhouettes of 

the gondolas. All with a variety of sizes. 

Shape harmony 

This graph shows various shapes grouped by similarity. 

Adjacent shapes, such as 1 and 2, are similar (harmonious). 

Shapes opposite one another, such as 1 and 6, are contrasting 

or discordant. 

2A 

1 

2 

3A 

3 

4 

4A 

5A 

5 


Example: shape and line harmony 

In Klee's painting, below, the yellow skull shape A is much 

larger than the crescent moon shape B and so they have very 

different sizes, tending to make them discordant. However 

both of these shapes have curved boundaries. The yellow skull 

shape A of the woman is made up of two curved lines and the 

crescent moon shape B is also made up of two lines. Therefore 

these two elements in the painting are harmonized by shape. 

6 

Here is a fascinating 1000 year old 

ceramics design by the indigenous 

people of the Nicoya region in Costa 

Rica (who said 20th century modern art 

was new?). Note the repeated patterns 

of dots, circles, segments of straight and 

curved lines, and solid shapes. Each 

element is repeated, but always with 

variety. The artist changed the sizes, 

rotations, and quantities of each 

element. Also note the big central white 

curved shape that snakes from bottom 

left to top right. It is dominant in the 

design and holds the whole design 

together, giving it unity. (It actually 

cleverly captures the itness of a jaguar). 

Also note the application of the point, 

line, mass principle. The design looks 

deceptively simple, yet it shows true 

mastery of design when studied 

carefully and contains a lot of lessons. 


A 

B 



PRINCIPLE: 


In this painting I harmonized the shapes 

of the clothes on the washing line and 

the shapes of the wooden fence posts on 

the bottom of the painting (I changed 

these shapes a little from what they 

actually were to help harmonize them). 

All these shapes are long rectangles. 

The chimney also repeats the long 

rectangle shape. 

Shape harmony (continued) 

Here the largest shape (the large circular shape of the head A), 

and the smallest shapes (the two small circular eye shapes B & 

C) are very different in size and therefore discordant. However 

they both have the same shape (a circle) and are therefore 

harmonized. 

C 

A 

B 


Size harmony 

Raybould Cat. 843 

The center of interest in this painting is probably the element A 

that consists of a red shape with the embedded purple eye. This 

is the center of interest because the eye shape attracts attention 

and also because there is an adjacent complementary green 

shape next to the red shape. The largest part of this shape is the 

red shape. Although this red shape is different in color from all 

the other larger shapes in the painting (such as B, C, D and E), 

it is brought into harmony by being approximately the same 

size. 

A 

C 

B 

D 

E 




PRINCIPLE: 


In this painting the smooth textures of 

the dress, the blanket, and the water all 

harmonize to give a very serene 

atmosphere. 

Texture harmony 

In this painting, the rough texture of the crusty bread 

harmonizes with the rough texture of the basket. The shiny 

green texture of the green objects on the plate harmonize with 

the shiny brass texture of the object in the basket. 

Waterhouse Cat. 9668. 

Melendez Cat. 8072. 

In Vermeer’s painting below the yellow shapes all have the 

same silky texture and therefore harmonize, and the white 

shapes with spots on them all have the same soft fur texture 

and so also harmonize. 

Vermeer Cat. 8119. 



GALLERY: HARMONY 

A 

D 

G 

B 

F 

C 

E 

Miro Cat. 9780. 

Miró harmonizes several elements of the painting (A, B, and C) by line (all have 

curved wavy lines built into them). Miró also harmonizes the many very different 

elements in this painting by using color. He only uses three groups of colors. The 

majority of the painting uses two colors that are adjacent to each other on the color 

wheel, yellow and orange. The orange in this painting is generally a low saturation 

orange, or brown. The remaining elements in the painting are either green or gray. The 

elements D, E, F, and G again are completely different shapes, but Miró harmonizes 

them by painting them in the same gray color.

AD01_harmony

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