Multi-figure Composition as a Form of Dialogue in Portrait Painting: Historical Evolution, Theoretical Principles and Modern Interpretations

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of multi-figure compositions in portrait painting as a universal and historically contingent form of visual dialogue. The object of the study is the group portrait in the context of its artistic, social, and communicative functions, while the subject is the visual dialogicity as a structural principle of compositional organization. The aim of the research is to identify the historical development, theoretical foundations, and contemporary interpretations of the multi-figure composition as a form of artistic communication. The methodology combines historical-artistic, phenomenological, and hermeneutic approaches, drawing upon Mikhail Bakhtin’s philosophy of dialogue, Hans Belting’s concept of the image as encounter, and Gernot Böhme’s aesthetics of atmospheres. The study applies comparative stylistic analysis and the principle of polyphonic reading of pictorial space. The article traces the historical development of the genre – from the harmonious ensembles of the Renaissance to the expressive scenes of the Baroque – and examines the transformation of multi-figure structures in Ukrainian modernism (M. Boichuk, T. Yablonska) and postmodern art (V. Sydorenko, O. Roitburd, I. Chychkan). Special attention is given to contemporary artists of the 2020s, including Zhanna Kadyrova, Alevtyna Kakhidze, and Oleksii Sai, who reinterpret the group composition through the lenses of social memory and digital communication. The scientific novelty of the research consists in conceptualising the multi-figure composition as a model of polyphonic thinking that unites character, space, and viewer within an ethical act of visual communication. The practical significance lies in the potential application of the findings to art education, curatorial practice, and interdisciplinary studies of visual culture.