看
kàn
Anything you rest your eyes on is 看
The picture Shading your brow and letting your gaze settle on something. 看 is putting your gaze somewhere; 见 is the result of something being caught by that gaze.
Where the picture shows up in 看
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drop your gaze on it
你看，那边有座位。
nǐ kàn, nàbiān yǒu zuòwèi
Look, there are seats over there.
A finger pointing across the room, setting the other person's gaze down on an empty seat
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leave your gaze there a while
周末我看了一部电影。
zhōumò wǒ kàn le yí bù diànyǐng
I watched a film over the weekend.
Two hours in a dark cinema with your gaze stuck to the screen and not coming off
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go in person and look
不舒服就去看医生。
bù shūfu jiù qù kàn yīshēng
If you're not well, go see a doctor.
Sitting in the consulting room, you and the doctor facing each other and looking each other over
看医生 is the patient going to look at the doctor; the doctor looking at patients is 看病人 — same picture, either direction.
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go look at a face you miss
明天我去看奶奶。
míngtiān wǒ qù kàn nǎinai
I'm visiting my grandmother tomorrow.
Grandmother's door opening and your gaze resting a long while on her face
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rest your mind's eye on it
你看这个方案行吗？
nǐ kàn zhège fāng'àn xíng ma
What do you make of this proposal?
A proposal spread open on the table with your eyes resting on it, turning it over
All of it in one picture
看 is laying your gaze on something. Toss the gaze over and it means look; leave it on the screen for two hours and it means watching a film; go in person and put your face and eyes in front of a doctor and it means being seen. Rest it on a face you miss and it means visiting; rest your mind's eye on a document and it means what do you make of it. So 看 is never what happens to enter your eyes — it is what you decide to lay your eyes on.