Elements of Art: Shape | KQED Arts

Fruit has a prominent role in art history, particularly in still-life paintings and drawings. Analyzing these works is an effective method for studying how artists render shapes. Shape is one of the seven elements of art, alongside line, form, texture, value, space, and color.

A shape is formed when a line connects to its own end or intersects with another. In visual art, shapes are flat, defined by length and width, and are two-dimensional. Shapes are either geometric (e.g., squares, circles) or organic (free-form and often unique).

Artists learn to simplify the world into basic shapes, making drawing easier. Shapes inherit qualities from the lines used to construct them. For example, Cézanne uses solid outlines, while Minol Araki employs soft, fuzzy lines, each approach evoking different feelings.

Artists interpret objects differently; some draw them perfectly round, while others capture every detail. When viewing art, consider how the artist uses shape. For personal practice, set up and draw a bowl of fruit, choosing to represent it faithfully or more abstractly.