CARLOS BORSA

In the painting above it is possible to observe the representation of the light separated between two visual planes that are divided and opposed to each other. In the composition of this work, light and shadow order space, creating in this way, a sense of spaciousness within the conical perspective.

The use of natural light in the foreground (1) shapes all the objects in the composition, the light doesn´t have a direct focus. The natural light is predominant and occupies the largest area of the composition of the work, appears diffusely and uniformly, spreading luminosity in the environment from the top to bottom.

In the background (2) it is possible to observe that the internal environment has artificial lighting, here the light is also diffused, but presents itself with a weaker luminosity in comparison to the natural light present in the foreground.

This difference between the luminosities generates differences in tonal values, and in this way the depth between the visual planes is established.

The richness of visual information translates into the diversification of tonal values, in natural light in the foreground the tonal contrasts are lighter and closer to each other, while in the artificial lighting in the background, the tonal contrasts are darker and contrasting between each other.

The dichotomy generated by the grouping of tonal values makes the visual planes visible, thus showing the different types of luminosities in the work.

The use of natural light in the foreground (1) shapes all the objects in the composition, the light doesn´t have a direct focus. Natural lighting is predominant and occupies the largest area of the composition of the work, it´s diffused and uniformly, spreads in the environment from top to bottom.

The light coming from the beam of light illuminates the environment, serves to direct the viewer's gaze to the human figure positioned in the left corner of the painting, therefore, the hand gestures of some human figures point to the left side of the painting, reinforcing in this way the directing of the viewer's gaze.

In painting the use of light makes the composition of the work dynamic, the light when it illuminates the environment and the human figures causes a diagonal movement from top to bottom and directed from right to left, and with this, the gestures of the hands become visible and the spatial plane materializes in the environment.

Artificial Light

The artificial light from electric lamps begins to be represented in representational painting from the modern era of the 19th century, influenced Parisian impressionist artists and profoundly changed the visual aesthetics of the works.

Electric energy made it possible to bring to the representational paintings a change in colors, depths and textures, the representation of this type of lighting brought a profound change in the observation of light and impacted the mode of artistic production.

In the work of the Viennese painter Carl Moll, is highlighted the representation of two types of lights, the natural and the artificial.
Both lights are distributed in the environment in different ways, in the composition of the work the bluish natural light of winter passes through the windows and spreads gradually in the environment. In contrast, yellowish artificial light illuminates the center of the table, and spreads through the reflection of light over people and objects.

This characteristic of antagonistic lights shows an opposition, the balance of colors and tonal values in the composition occurs when the bluish light, coming from outside the environment, is delicately intertwined with the yellowish artificial light.

This combination of lights constitutes a play of colors and temperatures, thus generating a variety of visual information within the composition of the work.

The natural light is cold and bluish, contrasts with the warm yellowish artificial light, when both lights come together on the lunch table, a synthesis of visual information occurs and that is captured on the tablecloth, silver, in glass and human figures.

With this, the lunch table becomes the most important point in the composition of the painting, the communion of lights converging on the table surface brings visual balance and harmony of colors.

Between the two luminous characteristics, the presence of objects on the table is highlighted, when these objects are illuminated by natural light, they create projected shadows of blue color and at the same time the artificial light, when illuminating the same objects, produces the reflection of yellow in the environment.

The yellow artificial light is reflected and varies in intensity, its focus is positioned in the center of the table, thus making the reflected yellow light more intense on the faces of people closest to the focus of this light.

C - Translucent Light:

The medium in which the light travels until it reaches our eyes can bring some variety of changes in visual information, colors and shapes can be distorted and the information that reaches our eyes can in some cases become full of noise.

One of the elements that composes the environment is air, this is an element that can change the luminosity because in the painting the representation of the environment can contain physical elements such as smoke, dust or fog, thus changing the intensity of the light.

When there is a distance between the main plane and the light source, the degree of luminosity changes and the light becomes translucent within the composition of the painting, this happens due to physical factors present in nature, such as a greater amount of particles present in the environment.

In the representational painting of the French painter Rosa Bonheur, there is the use of lighting that generates two types of shadow: the own shadow present in the unlighted parts of the body of animals and humans, and the projected shadow present on the floor.

The use of the Chiaroscuro technique generates areas of own shadows and aims to create volumetry in the illuminated figures, the use of own shadows makes the areas of light more prominent. An example is the white horses that have smaller areas of own shadows, these figures are more illuminated and stand out more in relation to the brown horses that are more shaded.

The representation of the shadow projected in the painting gives the notion of a three-dimensional space. The use of the projected shadow, conceived through the marking of dark shapes on the floor, reinforces the construction of the conical perspective.

The distribution of natural light and the shadow projected in the composition of the work is done uniformly, there is no main focus of light, the lighting is distributed over the environment through a parallel movement from top to bottom and from right to left.

C - Shadow Gradient

This type of shadow occurs when the light spreads gradually over the environment, the light can progressively increase or decrease its intensity in relation to the shadow when a forward or backward movement occurs over the space.

In this work by the Dutch painter Gerard Van Honthorst, there is the application of gradient shadows that blend in different degrees with the light by 5 planes.

In painting, the visual information that generates more attention is the one that has more illuminated visual information, and with this, the point of greatest attention in the work is the child positioned in the center of the composition.

It is possible to observe that the human figures reveal different degrees of distance in relation to the focus of light, this positioning between people creates the visual planes, being the foreground (1) considered the source of light.

In the painting, as the human figures are represented less illuminated, more distant they are located from the main plane of light. The light in the painting serves to give the dimension of the space, and the organization of the composition occurs through the difference between the degrees of illumination.

As the shadow gradually involves the visual planes and the human figures, darker and mixed with the background (5) becomes the visual information.