Foreground, Middle ground, Background: The foreground of a composition is the visual plane that appears closest to the viewer, while the background is the plane in a composition perceived furthest from the viewer.  The middle ground is the visual plane located between both the foreground and the background.  Claude Monet's "Jardin à Sainte Adresse," 1864,  clearly shows the people and garden scener in the foreground, the ocean and closer sailboats in the middle ground, and the much smaller sailboats in the background.