The invention of the camera completely changed our sense of perspective because now we can see things in places our eyes have never traveled to. The significance of this perspective in terms of painting is that our visual perspective of a painting defines our reality of the meaning behind the artwork.Īccording to Berger, how has the camera changed our sense of perception? How has this device brought paintings and other images into the context of our lives? How does this differ from attitudes toward art that existed before the camera was invented?

Berger describes this from a strictly visual sense but it remains just as relevant for all of our senses of the world. As humans, our perspective differs for each of us and our reality differ as well. We carry this perspective with us everywhere we go because our eye travels with us. He explains that perspective is the focus of what the eyes see, which then forms our reality. How does Berger describe the term “perspective”? How does the concept of artistic perspective make “the eye the center of the visible world” and why is this significant when we think about what artworks like paintings mean for viewers?īerger describes the term perspective as the opposite of a lighthouse with the light condensing into to the eye instead of branching out. He explains that because now we can view art outside of it’s intended environment, as part of a building or church, or museum, we do not get its original purpose because we are conditioned to see things in terms of modern perspective. He claims that before the invention of cameras, people could only perceive what was in front of them and their personal experience. Because now our eyes can see things that are miles away with the use of cameras, our entire perspective of the world has changed as human beings. Our habits and conventions, according to John, go beyond just what the eye sees at the moment.

He makes this argument by explaining we are conditioned to see the world in a different perspective than people over one hundred years ago because of photography and technology. John Berger states that the act of seeing is not as objective as we think. What does Berger mean when he says that the process of seeing is not “natural,” that it is shaped by habits and conventions? What kinds of habits and conventions shape the ways we see and how do they do this? Instead, he argues that what we see is conditioned by habits and conventions.

One of the first points John Berger makes is that the act of seeing something is not as objective as we might at first think.

Ways of seeing by john berger