Artful

MATH

PARENT
CONNECTION

Vanishing Point Perspective Art

A vanishing point is that spot on the horizon where the road disappears. Where everything gets
smaller in your view, letting you know it is farther away. The perspective is the view you see that
point from, and how things look from the viewers angle.
Architect and artist, Leon Battista
Alberti, wrote an entire treatise in 1435
titled De pictura (On Pictures) which
laid out some very specific geometric
examples of how to create the illusion
of a three-dimensional image on a
two-dimensional paper. Much of his
work is still referenced today.
It is not so much that he invented
perspective, or even that he rediscovered it, but that he worked out precisely what worked, why it worked, and wrote it down for
others to share.
For kids, much of this may seem like simply drawing lines, but this is highly connected to geometry,
which (through its emphasis on spatial sense) can make a person better at things like engineering,
sports, driving, billiards, and navigation. Geometric concepts can also help a person gain a better
understanding of personal space.

WHATS NEXT? Give your kid paper, a ruler, and a copy of a photograph. Let them
try to find the vanishing point by drawing lines on the photograph. In real life, there
might be more than one vanishing point!

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BACKGROUND

INFO:

Much of ancient art was created without

perspective. It was on a flat surface, and
had no depth of field. Everything looked
like it was the same size on the same level.
Differences in size were often used simply
to show importance, or a lack of it.
All over the world, at different times in
history, various unknown artists played
with images, size, and scale; searching for
ways to make those images more real.
One example of an ancient form of perspective/realistic drawing,
is this picture from a Roman fresco. There is a clear use of
perspective involved, but it is a different system involving more
of an eyeballing of how things look, and less of a set of rules.
Instead of using just one or two points for the horizon, as we
typically do now, there are multiple vanishing points in different
locations.
What we think of as modern perspective in art (linear perspective)
is a mathematically based system for representing threedimensional space on a flat surface.
It is also one of the mathematical concepts that allows
the hyper-realistic 3D street art so popular on social
media to work.
From the proper angle and perspective, the vanishing
point envisioned by the artist tricks the eye into seeing
a very realistic image.
But if you are looking at the wrong vanishing point,
from the wrong angle, the illusions created on the
street do not work. They appear distorted, or have
pieces missing.