What is vanishing point?

An art enthusiast Gunjan Singh wanted to know what exactly is ‘vanishing point’ and why it’s so important in art. We managed to dig out some facts on how the depiction of ‘perspective’ started in art. Most art historians agree that the invention and introduction of vanishing point occurred in the 13th Century through the experiments of Renaissance painters like Donatello and Masaccio.

Since the Renaissance is known as the Age of Reason,many scientific discoveries were made,including anatomy drawings. Perspective was one of the discoveries and using a primitive tool like a periscope; painters could geometrically view perspective and create a grid that was in keeping with certain mathematical calculations. It is said that two parallel lines never meet. However,there is an exception to this rule. The point where these two lines appear to converge is called vanishing point and though the lines do not really converge—it is a law of perspective that they appear to do so.

This concept,of the vanishing point became popular among many painters who followed the European discipline. Note that in other Asian and Egyptian countries,the use of perspective and vanishing lines was not popularised,since most of the artists working in the ‘Eastern’ style,rendered their paintings and high-relief sculptures as flat without any reference to perspective. It was later with colonisation that the use of perspective and vanishing point was popularised.

(Demystify art,e-mail georgina.maddox@expressindia.com)