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Optical illusions & the art of seeing

Explore optical illusions, impossible objects and illusion art with pictures, viewing instructions and explanations. Follow the science and history behind each example, from classic visual puzzles to fractals and camouflage in nature and human design.

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The collection

Mandelbrot Set — A simple iteration creates a boundary with extraordinary detail.

Mandelbrot Set

Benoît Mandelbrot; earlier work by Robert Brooks and Peter Matelski

A simple iteration creates a boundary with extraordinary detail.

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Impossible waterfall — A channel seems to return water to its own starting height.

Impossible waterfall

Pbroks13

A channel seems to return water to its own starting height.

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Impossible Valknut — Three interwoven triangles hide several impossible connections.

Impossible Valknut

AnonMoos

Three interwoven triangles hide several impossible connections.

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Reutersvärd’s triangle — A triangle of blocks recalls Reutersvärd’s pioneering impossible figure.

Reutersvärd’s triangle

Oscar Reutersvärd; modern drawing by László Németh

A triangle of blocks recalls Reutersvärd’s pioneering impossible figure.

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Original illustration comparing a flat gridded façade with projected shading that makes its panels appear recessed or protruding, while its outer edges remain fixed.

Projection mapping & trompe-l’œil

URBANSCREEN · 555 KUBIK; art direction by Daniel Rossa

A building seems to fold, open or gain impossible depth. Precisely aligned projected images turn its real façade into a moving trompe-l’œil.

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Letter Rack — News, letters, and writing equipment seem pinned to a wooden board.

A Letter Rack

Edwaert Collier

News, letters, and writing equipment seem pinned to a wooden board.

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Andrus’s nuts and bolts — An arrangement of real nuts and bolts looks impossible from its chosen view.

Andrus’s nuts and bolts

Jerry Andrus; photograph by Sgerbic

An arrangement of real nuts and bolts looks impossible from its chosen view.

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Helmholtz–Kohlrausch Effect — Saturated colors can appear brighter than equal-luminance gray.

Helmholtz–Kohlrausch Effect

Hermann von Helmholtz and V. A. Kohlrausch

Saturated colors can appear brighter than equal-luminance gray.

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Hilbert Curve — A line turns through a square with increasingly fine resolution.

Hilbert Curve

David Hilbert

A line turns through a square with increasingly fine resolution.

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The Ambassadors — A double portrait with a skull that emerges from an oblique view.

The Ambassadors

Hans Holbein the Younger

A double portrait with a skull that emerges from an oblique view.

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An animated red-and-green ring with striped surfaces whose apparent depth can reverse.Moving image

Ambiguous Ring

Donald E. Simanek

You should experience a sense of perceptual confusion as you note the paradoxical nature of the depicted ring.

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Gray patches interrupting alternating black and white horizontal stripes.

White’s illusion

Michael White

Equal gray bars look different inside a striped pattern.

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Axonometric paradox — An axonometric structure resists a single depth interpretation.

Axonometric paradox

Nevit Dilmen

An axonometric structure resists a single depth interpretation.

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Two equal horizontal bars between a pair of converging diagonal lines.

Ponzo illusion

Mario Ponzo

Perspective makes an equal line look longer.

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A black-and-white drawing of a woman at a dressing table; her reflection and the surrounding objects also form a skull.

All Is Vanity

Charles Allan Gilbert (1873 – 1929), American illustrator

You should experience a 'Gestalt switch' - a change - as your experience flips between being of a woman and being of a skull.

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Enlarged image from the selected gallery entry