Figure-Ground Relationship

This picture shows a figure-ground relationship. Basically, the correlation between the foreground and the background is the figure-ground relationship. The positive space, or what we tend to pay attention to, is the figure. The negative space, or everything else in the picture, is the ground. In the above picture, two separate scenes can be distinguished. If you look at the picture and see two human faces, then the figures are the faces and the ground is the white-red combination in the background. If you look at the picture and discern a goblet, then that is the figure and the black sides are the background. Sometimes figure-ground relationships are easily recognized, while others are ambiguous or vague.