Formal Analysis is how people contextualize the ideas, themes, and purpose of The given art.  In formal analysis we study and compare color, line work,  space and mass, and scale to break down the piece to get a basic idea of what the art wants to portray. Color attributes to how different hues, shades and the saturation of a piece. This works with the composition with space, mass and lines; different spots are highlighted to focus an object or and action creating a contrast. Lines give a better silhouette playing with the light and dark. Scale maintains the proportion and visually presents the most dominance.

Contextual analysis is to define the meaning of the art by inspecting the surrounding history of it, the reason it was made. Since formal analysis and contextual analysis are inseparable we must study both to interpret the full meaning to the art. People usually try to contextualize it themselves and due to different bias can come to different conclusions.