4. Linear Perspective

Of the five aspects of depth that we are exploring in this series, it is linear perspective with which students struggle the most. However, rather than viewing linear perspective as a rigid set of rules that must be learnt by rote, we should see them as cues to aid observation, helping us to better understand our perception of the space that we inhabit.

Our visual experience is more like one of David Hockney’s “joiner” photo collages than it is a flatter depiction of events, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s . Like Hockney’s work, our brains stitch together the snapshots made by our blinking eyes to create a fallible, working impression of space.