2. What is Perspective?
Perspective is a way that artists can make
a painting seem to have distance and
depth.
The next slide shows a painting that was
done on a flat surface, but perspective
makes the picture look almost real.
4. Lines of Perspective:
When you look at a painting that has been
done in perspective, it might seem as
though you are looking through a window.
Artists make the things that are supposed
to be far away very small and close to
each other.
5. Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day
In this painting, the lines on the street and the
buildings all seem to come together in one spot
on the horizon. The place where the lines meet
is called the vanishing point.
6. The lines that go back into the vanishing
point are called ORTHOGONAL LINES.
Literally, a line which is at right angles to
another. Orthogonal lines should be drawn
lightly at first. Usually most of an
orthogonal line will be erased.
7.
8. Optical Illusions:
Perspective is an optical illusion a trick of
the eye. At first glance, you might think
that what is shown in a drawing or painting
is real. This is because your brain is used
to seeing things in three dimensions.
9.
10. When you first
look at this picture,
you might think
that it is just a
drawing of people
on the roof of a
building. But
when you look
carefully, you see
that the people are
going around in a
loop.
11. Playing with Perspective:
By the early 20th century, artists wanted to
do something new. They tried
experiments with perspective. This
painter tried to show a mandolin from
many different angles in the same
painting. This style of painting is called
Cubism.
13. This artist
experimented with
perspective using
abstract shapes and
patterns. In this
picture, a wedge-
shaped net seems as
though it is coming
out of the picture
toward you.
El Lissitzky, Proun 99
14. vocabulary:
Depth—feeling of space and distance in a
picture
Horizon—imaginary place where the earth
and sky seem to meet
Optical Illusion—image that appears
different than it actually is
Three dimensions—any object that can be
measured three ways (LxWxD
Vanishing Point—imaginary spot in a
picture at which all the lines in a painting
seem to come together
• Orthogonal Line- In linear perspective
drawings, it is the line you draw from the
corner of an object .
