Figure/ground relationship

Formal Concepts

The relationship between a depicted form (the figure) and pictorial space (the ground). Figure/ground relationships are often used to describe the construction of space in representational paintings, but the term can also be used to understand abstract paintings, such as those of Barnett Newman.

Featured Works

8

Memorial to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs project, New York, New York

Memorial to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs project, New Y...

Louis I. Kahn

1968

Villa dall'Ava, Paris (Saint-Cloud), France, Exterior perspective

Villa dall'Ava, Paris (Saint-Cloud), France, Exterior per...

Rem Koolhaas

1987

Tribune Review Publishing Company Building, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Entrance elevation sketch

Tribune Review Publishing Company Building, Greensburg, P...

Louis I. Kahn

1958

Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Morris House, Mount Kisco, New York, Perspective

Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Morris House, Mount Kisco, New York...

Louis I. Kahn

1958

Variations and Interferences of 3 Non-Homogenous Grids in a 32 x 32 cm Square

Variations and Interferences of 3 Non-Homogenous Grids in...

Lauretta Vinciarelli

c.1973

Casa de Retiro Espiritual, Córdoba, Spain, Aerial axonometric

Casa de Retiro Espiritual, Córdoba, Spain, Aerial axonome...

Emilio Ambasz

1979

Urban Housing, Turin, Italy (Plan)

Mario Botta

1985

Fine Arts Center, School, and Performing Arts Theater, Fort Wayne, Indiana (Site-plan sketch)

Fine Arts Center, School, and Performing Arts Theater, Fo...

Louis I. Kahn

1963