Today I was struck by the proportion of the painting. The first few times I looked at it, I remember thinking that it was too long vertically -- I couldn't figure out why so much of their lower bodies were shown. It just seemed like nothing happened below their clasped hands...
Yet, the painting has as its secondary focus point their clasped hands, and this balances the painting and gives your eye permission to leave their faces. Not an inch of the canvas is wasted or superfluous. Your eye goes to their hands because they are at the midpoint of the lower half of the painting. And because they are bordered by two different colors, yellow and red, representing the vertical line of their bodies. And because the window sill, her right arm, and his left arm pull your horizontal gaze in.
It's hard to believe all I'd have missed if I'd never gone back to view this painting.
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A day-by-day viewing of "The Lovers" at the National Museum of Art, East Building
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