This essay explores the general compositional features by opposingthe common understanding of composition as “an arrangement of the image onthe sheet surface”. An image is essentially a text that conveys information from theauthor to the viewer and has no meaning without them. The main premise is thata semantic compositional unit can be represented by the sequence “conveyor —image — perceiver”. It is shown that a pictorial text consists of separate elementswith a certain structure (experiments of R. Pritchard). These elements, in turn,are closely interrelated with each other, and only in this connection can theirartistic meaning be perceived. The perception of meaning is a temporal process,which is determined by the transition of gaze from one group of elements toanother. In different contexts and with a different “route” of perception, thesame group can carry different meanings. It is important that if the image doesnot carry any specific information for us it can nevertheless cause associationswhich mostly reflect our inner essence. In this case, the viewer can understandthe original general meaning of the work very subjectively, despite all the effortsof the author to show a clear structure of the image.In this regard, the compositional “routes” of the spectator's perception ofpictorial elements can differ greatly from one another, depending on the viewer'sinternal presets, which Alfred L. Yarbus proved experimentally back in the 1960s.The essay briefly discusses some properties of pictorial signs and their impactson the emotional sphere of a person.Finally, several pedagogical conclusions are made, in particular that theability of the student to penetrate into the symbolic artistic-semantic structurerequires education and development of his personality. Without this, he will onlyglean the surface, the material aspect of the image. That is why an unpreparedstudent is often fond of "illusionism", of copying. Only serious pedagogicalwork that requires knowledge of the fundamental principles of composite imageconstruction helps to cope with this.