How can interrupted lines suggest fading edges or distance?

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Watercolor painting by Berthe Morisot showing Edma seated on a sofa in a floral dress with her young daughter Jeanne beside her, both facing slightly right. — Drawing *The Artist's Sister, Edma, with Her Daughter, Jeanne*, watercolor over graphite on paper by Berthe Morisot, 1872; in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

In the context of drawing, the interruption, beginning, or disappearance of a line serves as a vital technique for artists to manipulate spatial perception and edge definition.

By intentionally breaking a line or allowing it to fade, an artist can gradually "slur" an edge until it transitions into a plane, effectively softening the boundary of an object. This technique allows lines to vanish into the depth of the composition, creating a sense of distance or atmospheric perspective. Furthermore, chopping a line into brief segments—or using loose, short strokes—reduces the appearance of a form as firm or corporeal, instead rendering it in a more pictorial and suggestive manner. These methods allow the artist to move beyond rigid outlines, using the flow and continuity of the stroke to represent light, shadow, and the recession of objects into space.1