Visual Rhythm is the sense of movment that is established through repetition of shapes. Visual rhythm is similar to musical rhythm – music can be created through a pattern of sound and silence; visual rhythm can be created through a pattern of figure and ground. Rhythm, in contrast to repetition, does not require exactness; rhythm may have regular or periodic changes in size, color, texture, shape, etc. Visual rhythm will generally follow a path of arranged shapes. The path may be regular or irregular depending on the type of rhythm,

Regular path of curved lines, emananting like ripples on water from the top left.

Undulating rhythm created by the pattern of squares and implied depth.

Frederic Leighton. An athlete wrestling with a python. 1888.

Vincent van Gogh. Starry night over the Rhone. 1888.