Studying the Possibility of Using Perspective in Iranian and European Painting

Over thousands of years and depending on different traditions, values, and even geographical environments in different parts of the earth, people have been raised who have different beliefs about their existence. Different understandings of human position have led to the emergence of different cultures. Iran and Greece were the origin of civilization. The culture of these two countries has important differences and therefore they have created different arts. For example, the artworks of ancient Greece, due to the humanism and rationalism of this European culture, usually tend towards naturalism. while the artworks of ancient Iran, due to the different views of this Middle Eastern culture towards humans and the world, are often abstract. From around the 5th century, a breaking in European culture, the Middle Ages began. In the Middle Ages, because of the dominance of Christianity, Europe moved away from humanistic culture. After these developments in European culture, art moved away from Greek naturalism and moved closer to Middle Eastern abstractionism. One of the most important signs of medieval painting in Europe is lacking perspective, like Middle Eastern paintings. From around the 15th century, it became necessary to change the painting methods. Because after the Renaissance, all aspects of life gradually changed, and painting could not remain unchanged. The Renaissance, which was the result of the return to humanism and the values of ancient Greece and Rome, also needed its own paintings; paintings that are in harmony with the values of humanism, including naturalism and rationalism. In other words, humanism, which was the ruling spirit of the Renaissance, turned perspective into a problem for the painters of that period. Finally, a group of geniuses solved that by using scientific rules. Due to the stability of the fundamental values of Iranian culture, classical Iranian painting has had almost constant characteristics from ancient times to the Islamic period. One of the distinctive characteristics of Iranian painting is the lack of perspective. Iran’s culture, both in ancient times and in the Islamic period, has had different values and may even conflict with humanism. Therefore, the use of the perspective technique, which seems to be a reflection of humanism in painting, cannot be justified in Iranian painting. In the end, regarding the use of perspective in new Iranian painting (The works of artists such as Hossein Behzad), it is necessary to remember that although it is unreasonable to expect the technique and form of Iranian painting to remain unchanged throughout history, the use of perspective in this art is not justified. As explained before, perspective is a reflection of humanist values in painting, and these values - good or bad - do not have a presence among the basic values of Iran’s mostly traditional culture. The inconsistency of the use of perspective with new Iranian paintings becomes more apparent when we pay attention to the subject of these paintings, mainly taken from ancient Iranian literature and epics. Ancient Iranian literature and epics generally guide people to follow traditions and make them afraid of the consequences of breaking traditions.