One would be hard put to deny that there is an underlying power to great paintings. The question is: what is that power? Is it solely the spirit of the artist coupled with a mastery of drawing and color? There are many well-drawn and painted works of art. Yet very few of them would be considered great paintings. Still Life, 1960 Giorgio Morandi, Italian

If a hierarchy is applied to the visual craft of painting, I believe that both drawing and color would be second to composition. They are all critically important, but it is composition that binds and moves the viewer's eye throughout a painting in a rhythmic cadence. Rhythm is the primary conduit to the viewer's viscera. It is what moves and carries the emotional qualities. The active force of music is rhythm. It is the same with painting. The works of Jackson Pollock are primarily rhythm. So, too, with painters as diverse as JMW Turner and Morandi. Pictured above is a delightful still-life by the Italian painter Morandi. This painting is simply titled Still Life, 1960. The crockery is crudely drawn and painted. The color scheme is a complementary set (red/green) and grey; a very basic harmony. Yet there is an hypnotic power so this work. Morandi invested much of his career's study to composition. He also taught composition for many years at the Italian state art school near his home in Bologna. Albeit for a pittance.

Snowstorm, 1842 JMW Turner, British The compositional scheme for this small work is an annotated square root 2 rectangle. For the uninitiated the geometry can seem daunting. But it isn't. This scheme is one of the most popular. Once you learn the basic 'keys' of Symphonic Composition, you will recognize it in many great works of art and apply it to your own work. One of Britain's greatest painters, Turner, also used the annotated square root 2 composition more than a century earlier. But in a more complex manner.