“Movement” generally guides the viewer of a piece of art to certain areas—often to a dominant or focal point area. Linear movement suggests the direction of lines in a straight or a curvilinear direction, such as the curved lines around the stars in Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.”

Rhythm, whether it be regular or irregular, is the repetition of the Elements of Art, such as color, shape, line, value, and/or texture. Pattern relates to rhythm in that it uses the Elements of Art in repeated sequences (or out of sequences, in some cases).

Depth, which generally can refer to dimension, such as two-dimensional or three-dimensional and perspective can be linked in the sight lines of a painting which indicate foreground and background. Furthermore, and related to the different dimensions of design, it is important to consider both projection, which can be a flat or “frontal” view; two-dimensional has no depth—only length and width. Three-dimensional work has width, height and depth. A cross-section, which you likely remember from science, is the view that one would achieve by visually cutting something in half.

Leonardo da Vinci left many clear examples of depth and perspective. For instance, view the drawing of the “Adoration of the Magi”. With careful examination, there are foreground and background figures, as well as a horizon line and a vanishing point. Notice also the depth and dimensions (two-dimensional and three-dimensional) of the figures in the work.

Additionally, geometric shapes, both two-dimensional and three-dimensional can be discovered in works of art, and a particular example is Leonard da Vinci’s “Madonna of the Rocks” (from 1483). Notice the three-dimensional pyramid shape from just above the Madonna’s head, to below the angels.