If you observe ancient Egyptian paintings, it is easy to notice that they are all painted in a style that we later refer to as 2D.
In 1986, the band The Bangles sang about “all the ancient paintings in the tombs”, where the depicted figures are “walking like an Egyptian.” Although not an art historian or an Egyptologist, musician Liam Sternberg was referencing one of the most prominent features of ancient Egyptian visual art – the depiction of people, animals, and objects on a two-dimensional plane.
Why did the ancient Egyptians do this? And was ancient Egypt the only culture to create art in this style?
Painting any object in three-dimensional representation requires a specific viewpoint to create the illusion of perspective on a flat surface. Painting an object in two dimensions (height and width) requires the artist to depict only one plane of that object. Emphasizing just one plane, it turns out, has its own advantages.
John Baines, an Emeritus Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford in England, told Live Science: “In painting representation, the line carries the most information. Everything will be easier to discern if they are clearly positioned by the lines.“
Ancient Egyptian paintings are primarily depicted in a 2D style.
This means that when painting on a 2D surface, the lines are the most critical content, even though many ancient Egyptian paintings still contain multiple facets of the object. According to Baines, they were very focused on clarity and comprehensibility.
In short, 2D representation allows for simpler, more understandable, and more graspable images.
According to Baines, in many artistic traditions, “size corresponds to importance.” In mural art, royals and tomb owners are often depicted much larger than the surrounding objects. If an artist used three-dimensional perspective to represent human proportions in reality with foreground and background, it would contradict this principle.
2D storytelling art resembles modern comics.
Another reason for depicting multiple subjects on a two-dimensional plane is that it supports visual storytelling.
Baines explains, the painting art of ancient Egyptians can be compared to modern comics. There were some common principles at that time, such as writing being inscribed and read vertically, while paintings were presented horizontally. The captions for this “comic” format were hieroglyphs. He also notes that the content of the paintings is not about real events but often about generalized or idealized notions of life.
However, not all forms of painting in ancient Egypt were entirely two-dimensional. According to Baines, “Most paintings were set within an architectural context.” Some works on tomb walls include relief models or a type of carving.
In the tomb of Akhethotep, a courtier who lived during the Fifth Dynasty around 2400 BCE, we can see two scribes (in the image below) whose bodies are sculpted onto the flat surface of the wall.
As Baines explains, “The relief also simulates the surface of the body, so you can’t say that they are just flat drawings” because “they have texture and surface detail beyond the outer outline.“
The relief of the two men depicted in three dimensions.
This 2D style of painting was not only popular in ancient Egypt but also spread to Syria, Mesopotamia, the Maya, and even later medieval European painting. Although ancient Greek and Roman paintings are exceptions, Professor Baines notes that the tradition of 2D painting was widespread, effective, and did not require much change.
