A field emission element has a gate electrode stacked on a substrate, an emitter electrode stacked on the gate electrode via an interlayer insulating layer, and an anode electrode formed on another substrate facing the emitter electrode. Further, the field emission element includes an anode pixel formed by the anode electrode and a generally rectangular fluorescent body formed thereon and a plurality of wells, each being formed in the emitter electrode and the interlayer insulating layer in a form of a narrow elongated hole. Here, the wells are disposed within a generally rectangular electron emitting area and at least a majority of the wells are arranged parallel to each other, and a length direction of the majority of the wells is substantially normal to that of the fluorescent body and the electron emitting area.