What is Gestalt in art?

Gestalt refers to principles of visual perception describing how we organize visual elements into unified wholes. Developed by German psychologists in the early 20th century, key principles include similarity (grouping like elements), proximity (grouping nearby elements), closure (completing incomplete shapes), and figure-ground relationships. Surrealists exploited gestalt principles to create double images and visual puzzles where the same forms can be perceived as different subjects. Salvador Dali’s double images depend on viewers’ perceptual switching between possible interpretations. Understanding gestalt helps explain why certain juxtapositions create powerful effects and how viewers make sense of complex visual information.