Negative Space

Negative space, in art terms, is the space around an image, and the space inside it. So if you imagine a black background with a white silhouette of a bird in the middle, the black part would be negative and the white part would be positive, or the other way round. One negative and one positive.


Here is a well know example of the use of negative space. This picture, made in 1915, by Edgar Rubin who was a Danish psychologist is called Rubin Vase and shows the when you make the tone around the outside of the vase darker than the inside of the vase, and make it a silohette image, your eyes focus on the white and instead of a vase you can see the profile image of two men.

 

This was done as a psychology test but has now become a popular thing among artists and designers all over the world.