Some people say, "opposites attract." Well, I would like to think "opposites have a tendency to complement each other." My theory can be found true if you look at art. Just like basketball, the principles of design (of art) use quick and noticeable elements to create fast breaks that'll (without you noticing) lead you into an alley-oop and a slam dunks you into the message. In this paper, I will show you how Henry Ossawa Tanner's, "The Banjo Lesson" and Fracisco de Goya's, "The Executions of the Third of May" reveal individual styles that provide emphasis and balance to the painting.
             If you take a look at Henry O. Tanner's, "The Banjo Lesson," you will notice how he uses color schemes to draw attention to the message of his painting. He uses "strongly contrasting values of dark skin against a pale background" to create emphasis on the focal point of the banjo lesson between the child and the man (Getlein p 132). The pale colors in the background "subordinated the background so that it does not interfere" (Getlein p133). While Tanner chooses dark tones to bring his focal point alive, Francisco de Goya uses the chooses to use the opposite color scheme to grab your attention. Goya's use of "white, yellow, and red demands our attention by creating a dramatic focal area against a background of earth tones and black" (Getlein p 135). Both paintings' use of gentle color contrast creates a balance within the paintings that never leaves us "stuck" in one place.
             Henry O. Tanner uses dark tones to draw emphasis on the focal point of his paintings while counteracting the dark tones with a pale background to create subordination. Francisco de Goya, unlike Tanner, chooses to use light colors to grab our attention to his message, while using dark tones to create subordination. Both artists used contrasting colors but the same methods to create the emphasis of a focal point, subordination of background, and balance of the painting.
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