The Problem of Distortion
Even though the line and color 
in Cezanne’s Fruit and Jug 
(1890-94) is distorted, the 
apples do look real.  Cezanne’s 
style expresses the tension 
between how the artist saw the 
natural world and how he knew 
it should be "realistically" 
represented.

That dual modes of awareness 
are important in perceiving 
pictures is brought out by one of 
the most striking facts about 
picture perception: Neither the 
appreciation of a picture’s 
artistic merit nor a proper 
perception of what it 
represents depends upon any 
particular viewing position. If 
this were not true, we would 
have to maneuver ourselves 
into a special position in 
viewing a picture, much as one 
has to do in viewing the Pozzo 
ceiling. The picture’s retinal 
image is distorted when we 
view it from the side, from 
below, or from above, but we 
correct for the distortion.

    Suppose, for example, the 
artist has represented a sphere 
by a circle. If we view the 
canvas from the side, the circle 
projects as an ellipse. But 
because we have information 
that we are viewing the canvas 
from the side, we take that 
orientation into account in 
interpreting what the 
ellipitical image represents—–
namely, a circle. Thus we 
implicitly assume that the 
correct position for viewing 
pictures is from directly in 
front. Such a process of 
achieving shape constancy 
must occur before we go on to 
interpret what the shapes on 
the canvas represent in the 
world. The perceived circle is 
then interpreted as 
representing a sphere.