Trompe l’œil and the Nature of Pictures

Abstract

It is notoriously difficult to state the nature of depiction, but many theories, in spite of their differences, agree on one particular point: they assert that image perception is a very peculiar kind of experience whose ingredients are different in nature. According to many philosophers, when we look at a still life we do not see a particular kind of object — I do not see painted fruit and flowers; on the contrary, what is properly seen are pigments and canvas or, in general, the material components of the image.