Figure-Ground Relationship
Figure-Ground Perception
A principle of visual perception where the brain separates what it sees into a foreground figure and a background. What you focus on depends on how you frame it.
EverydayConcepts.io
Origin
Established by Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin in his July 1915 doctoral thesis Synsoplevede Figurer (Visually Experienced Figures) at the University of Copenhagen. Rubin was the first to rigorously study and systematically define principles governing the relationship between figure and ground, creating the now-classic Rubin vase illusion. Though Rubin never considered himself a Gestalt psychologist, his work became foundational to Gestalt psychology and featured prominently in Koffka's 1935 Principles of Gestalt Psychology.
Updated February 22, 2026