Why Do the Eyes in Some Paintings Seem Like They’re Following Us?

Even though we know that this is a two-dimensional picture, this situation sometimes becomes frightening. Wherever we go, those eyes are always on us.

Enter, Let’s look at the reason for this.

Until they discovered the perspective technique, painters used width and height to reflect the distance of objects from each other.

However, after perspective began to be used, the technique of giving depth to paintings changed. So, painters It uses light and shadow play along with perspective to make pictures look as if they were real.

However, the surface on which the painting is made is two-dimensional. In other words, the three-dimensional world It is transferred onto two-dimensional paper, and in doing so an optical illusion is created.

The shadow, light and perspective used in the picture are fixed. So, when the painter draws someone looking directly ahead, no matter what angle you look at, You see the person in the picture as if he/she is right in front of you and thus you think that he/she is looking at you.

However, when you try the same thing with a real person in front of you, this illusion in the picture does not occur.

For example, you can ask a friend to stand still and always look ahead. Meanwhile, look into his eyes by constantly changing your position.. You will see that the situation in the picture does not occur.

This is because you are looking at a three-dimensional image and unlike the stability of the picture This is because light, shadow and perspective change as you change your position.

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