"Scientific principles of art?" asks journalist Kurt Severing midway through Jason Lutes's Berlin. "Isn't it all a matter of perspective?" (105.11). This sentiment rings especially true throughout his graphic novel. Set primarily in Weimar Republic Germany, it traces the lives of several characters towards their historical vanishing point: the outbreak of political strife and ultimately a world war. This situation gives Lutes's story a sense of tragedy, as an unavoidable future trivializes an individual's daily routine. Lutes creates a world of emotions and personal interactions, which he depicts with a different artistic perspective than the politically charged world of Berlin. The world of familiarity or self-absorption is rendered in one-point perspective, while broader scenes of social unrest and confusion utilize two-point perspective. Lutes takes this visual division farther by using multiple and central vanishing points, or sometimes even no vanishing points at all. As a panel's subject matter becomes increasingly personal, the background often disappears, removing all sense of perspective. Conversely, when the subject matter becomes increasingly impersonal, the artwork focuses on size and depth of field to portray realistic space; as the number of vanishing points increase, so does the historical or social perspective.

Through this manipulation of background and perspective, Lutes shows how each character attempts to escape the narrowing historical narrative. Berlin epitomizes his attention to these artistic conventions, as he tracks the movements of his twelve recurring characters. One complete break from perspective occurs in the final pages of chapter seven, not only illustrating, but giving meaning to Severing's extrication from the surrounding physical world.

As a point of clarification: one-point perspective/one vanishing point assumes the point itself is outside the panel. Central perspective/vanishing point describes when the lines converge to a single point within the panel.