Perspective, in art, a graphic system by which the impression of three-dimensional space is convincingly conveyed on a two-dimensional surface such as a canvas or relief sculpture. Perspective is based on elementary laws of optics, in particular the fact that distant objects appear smaller and less distinct than near objects. Linear perspective applies to the way in which objects appear to grow smaller as they recede in the distance. Aerial perspective applies to the atmosphere's effect on the appearance of objects in relation to their proximity, as, for example, the perceived colour of distant mountains.

The clearest demonstration of linear perspective is the illusion of a pair of railway tracks receding into the distance, the two rails appearing to grow progressively smaller and closer together and finally converging at the vanishing point on the horizon. In perspective drawing, the flat surface of the paper or canvas is known as the picture plane; the horizon is the line horizontally bisecting the picture and corresponding to the viewer's eye-level; and the vanishing point is the point at which receding lines in the composition appear to converge. There may be more than one vanishing point, depending on the alignment of the objects in the scene—for example, houses, buildings, roads—as they are perceived by the viewer.

The scientific understanding of perspective is a relatively recent development in human history: it was not accurately formulated until the Italian Renaissance, in the 15th century. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans knew little of the accurate conveyance of depth in pictures, although in frescoes a crude illusion was sometimes suggested by the device of placing one figure in front of another. The Romans arrived at a partial understanding of the apparent convergence of parallel lines but never evolved a consistent understanding of vanishing points. Around 1400, Italian Renaissance artists developed an intuitive understanding of perspective, but it was the Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi who, through a series of experiments that he made between 1417 and 1420, mastered the laws of perspective. The Florentine painters Masaccio and Paolo Uccello were among the first to use Brunelleschi's rules to achieve the illusion of perspective in painting.

In 1435, the architect Leon Battista Alberti wrote Della pittura (On Painting), a treatise on painting originally written in Latin, and published in Italian in 1436. The work was an explanation of Brunelleschi's method and formed the basis of all later uses of perspective. The understanding of aerial perspective was a development credited to Dutch and Flemish masters. It is notable in the atmospheric landscapes and in the delicately luminous interiors of the paintings of Jan van Eyck.

The mastery of linear and aerial perspective has been immeasurably important in the development of the visual arts in the West. By the beginning of the 20th century, however, accomplished perspectival effects were no longer of prime concern, and such visual accuracy was cast aside by the avant-garde art movements that developed.

The quest for a solution to the problem of perspective in art is also a uniquely Western phenomenon. The issue has not been tackled elsewhere, even in such developed traditions as Oriental, Aboriginal, and Pre-Columbian art.