Our visual field normally consists of heterogeneous
elements that differ in shape, size, color, or orientation.
To better comprehend the structure of a
visual field, we tend to organize its elements into
two opposing groups: positive elements, which are
perceived as figures and negative elements, which
provide a background for the figures.
Our perception and understanding of a composition
depends on how we interpret the visual interaction
between the positive and negative elements within
its field. On this page, for example, letters are seen
as dark figures against the white background of the
paper surface. Consequently, we are able to perceive
their organization into words, sentences, and
paragraphs. In the diagrams to the left, the letter
“a” is seen as a figure not only because we recognize
it as a letter in our alphabet but also because its
profile is distinct, its value contrasts with that of
its background, and its placement isolates it from
its context. As it grows in size relative to its field,
however, other elements within and around it begin to
compete for our attention as figures. At times, the
relationship between figures and their background is
so ambiguous that we visually switch their identities
back and forth almost simultaneously
In all cases, however, we should understand that
figures, the positive elements that attract our
attention, could not exist without a contrasting
background. Figures and their background, therefore,
are more than opposing elements. Together, they form
an inseparable reality—a unity of opposites—just
as the elements of form and space together form the
reality of architecture