Aerial Perspective:

Painting is presenting a three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. In realistic painting, one creates the impression of depth, both by the design (geometrical perspective) and by the choice of colors.

Due to the greater absorption of warm colors in the air, distant parts of a landscape appear cooler than the foreground; they show less contrast and less saturation. The green leaves of the tree in the foreground of

fig. 10 are painted a yellowish brown, in order to keep the foreground warm. Against the warm brown of the soil, the leaves still are cooler. The green color was treated in landscape painting with great caution.

Aerial perspective does not apply to portrait or still-life painting, since the absorption of warm light takes place over large distances only. However, even in these genres, objects closer to the painter (e.g. hands or feet) are often painted larger than natural. ( Fig. 23). This not only gives an impression of close distance, but it has also emotional implications.

Fig.23. (Van Gogh)