The Visual Poetry of a painting is what the artist is trying to communicate to the viewer through his or her painting, and the emotion that is elicited from the viewer. This is the intellectual concept of the painting that arises from the illusion created by the painting. The degree of representation of the subject and the illusion that is created, varies from pure abstraction, in which the image bears no direct resemblance to any recognizable subject, to pure naturalism in which the artist has made the image as close as possible to the actual appearance of the subject. To include a poetic element, a painting needs to:
- represent, resemble, or at the very least suggest something, however abstract that representation may be, and
- focus that illusion into some idea or concept (often something to do with human emotions).
See the Visual Music & Poetry Building Block for more information.