Fun use of perspective illustions

Illusion in Art

An artist starts with a two-dimensional surface; it may be a wall, a canvas, a board, paper or a pavement. By the use of paint or other media he must make the viewer enter his world and share his vision. But the actual world isn’t two-dimensional and the artist can’t create a three dimensional world on the surface. How do we get around this problem?

The answer is illusion - to represent the three dimensional world on the two dimensional surface the artist has to use systems of illusion that create the impression of space, of depth and of movement.

Linear perspective is a mathematical system for creating the illusion of space and distance on a flat surface. The system originated in Florence, Italy in the early 1400s. The artist and architect Brunelleschi demonstrated its principles, but another architect and writer, Leon Battista Alberti was first to write down rules of linear perspective for artists to follow. Interestingly, before that the system had been widely understood and applied, attempts to recreate realism in perspective in paintings were made, and not without errors.

Before the 14th Century little to no attempts were made to realistically depict the three dimensional world in art in the way in which we are now accustomed to seeing it.
The art of the Byzantine, Medieval and Gothic periods was rich and beautiful, but the images made no attempt to create the illusion of depth and space.

In this 15th century illustration from the Old French translation of William of Tyre's Histoire d'Outremer, there is clearly a general attempt to reduce the size of more distant elements, but unsystematically.

First Perspective - Fillipo Brunelleschi & Masaccio

The first known picture to make use of linear perspective was created by the Florentine architect Fillipo Brunelleschi (1377-1446). Painted in 1415, it depicted the Baptistery in Florence from the front gate of the unfinished cathedral. The linear perspective system projected the illusion of depth onto a two dimensional plane by use of ‘vanishing points’ to which all lines converged, at eye level, on the horizon. Soon after Brunelleshi’s painting, the concept caught on and many Italian artists started to use linear perspective in their paintings.
Masaccio (1401 – 1428) the first great painter of the early Renaissance period, was the first artist who demonstrated full command of the new rules of perspective; the figures in his paintings have volume and the buildings and landscapes realistically recede into the distance. Masaccio is seen now as being the initiator of the new style of Florentine Realism.

Use of perspective in modernday art

Fast forward to the present-day, artists and designers now use perspective as a form of illusion to create illustrations and artworks to trick viewers mind. Julian Beever, an artist who is probably best known for his optical illusion pavement drawings, like the ones below.

There are many more examples of artworks that demonstrate that perspective when used creatively can create powerful illusions that wows the audience. Depending on the task and goal of the designer, one shouldn't be afraid to explore different techniques and possibilities as means for visual communications