This is primarily based on Western art, though Gombrich does also investigate Asian art and it's differing philosophy. Gombrich emphasizes both the role of the artist as the presenter of a painting, and even more, the role of the beholder in interpreting what is painted.

This does not mean that artists are painting what they literally see instead, they have a repertoire of conventions that we as viewers have learned to interpret as a real represenation of the thing painted. Over time, with each new generation, experiments with art allowed artists to discover new tricks to make us believe in the 'reality' of what they painted. Under them, it became more casual, art for art's sake, instead of magical images filled with power. Gombrich argues that the Greeks fundamentally changed the course of art. This book attempts to answer the question, if artists throughout time have attempted to portray the world 'realistically', why are there so many different styles? Why, for example, did the Egyptians portray people as partially sideways and partially frontward? Must we assume that they literally saw people like that?

For the sixth edition Professor Gombrich has written an entirely new 12-page preface, in which he makes use of the distinction between an image and a sign, so as to clarify his intentions in writing the book in the first place. The problems of representation are forever fundamental to the history of art: Art and Illusion remains an essential text for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of art. With profound knowledge and his exceptional gift for clear exposition, he advances each argument as an hypothesis to be tested. Yet he always retains a sense of wonder at the inexhaustible capacity of the human brain, and at the subtlety of the relationships involved in seeing the world and in making and seeing art. In applying the findings of experimental science to a nuanced understanding of art and in tackling complex ideas and theoretical issues, Gombrich is rigorous. First published more than 40 years ago, Art and Illusion has lost none of its vitality and importance. Gombrich examines, questions and re-evaluates old and new ideas on such matters as the imitation of nature, the function of tradition, the problem of abstraction, the validity of perspective and the interpretation of expression: all of which reveal that pictorial representation is far from being a straightforward matter. It seeks to answer a simple question: why is there such a thing as style? The question may be simple but there is no easy answer, and Professor Gombrich's brilliant and wide-ranging exploration of the history and psychology of pictorial representation leads him into countless crucial areas. Described by Kenneth Clark as 'one of the most brilliant books of art criticism that I have ever read', Art and Illusion is a classic study of image-making.

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