Meaning in Composition As we have seen, Vermeer creates very simple but dynamic underlying structural schemes in his paintings. They are the foundation on which he confidently builds the rest of his work. The self-contained quality of his works is expressed not only through the simple orderly furnishings and the discreet gestures of the young woman in his pictures but principally through compositions that refer constantly and almost obsessively to their own geometrical boundaries. Composition in painting has a similar function as the soundtrack has in cinema. It builds and relieves tension, it creates a unity through a repeated theme, it directs our attention here and there and channels our emotions along the paths that the artist wishes much more powerfully than the images alone are able to do. Intellect or Intuition ? It is impossible to determine definitively if Vermeer calculated rationally beforehand his compositions or if he arrived at them by more intuitive means. Not even one of his drawings remain to help us. However we do know through x-ray photographs that he made many major and minor compositional corrections during the painting process. The following Zen story, in any case, illustrates the uncanny visual precision that some artists posses.
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