bum bum bi dum!

The lights slowly tilt up to reveal the dancer’s silhouette. You see a pirouette, then a crescendo of music. All of a sudden, the music slows down and you hear some drums. A few seconds later, and the audience is clapping to the rhythm. What is rhythm and why does it feel like everyone can identify it? Although most associated with music, rhythm can be used in art to give the piece some ebb and flow. In art, rhythm is defined as an element of design based on the repetition of recurrent motifs. One painting that I saw immediate rhythm in before I read the title was Robert Delauney’s “Rhythm - Joie de Vivre.” The title means “the joy of living” which captures the essence of this painting. I was first drawn to it by the vibrant orange colors, since orange is my favorite color. The painting has a modern abstract feeling to it. The unity in this painting happens by rhythm. We see recurrent elements like the geometric shapes, the colors, and the patterns which intricately tie the piece together. Your eye looks at the painting as a whole, then recognizes certain parts of the painting over and over, almost making the abstraction coherent. The use of colors and shapes create a design that allows you to clap to rhythm of this painting like it was a dancer’s performance.