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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

A person crouches beside a colourful pavement painting that appears to open into a deep landscape.

Pandora

Tracy Lee Stum, an American artist

You should have the visual experience of a man riding a mythical bird. However, although the man is real, the bird is just a cleverly constructed 2D drawing on the pavement.

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Bezold Effect — The same red changes character when surrounded by black or white.

Bezold Effect

Wilhelm von Bezold

The same red changes character when surrounded by black or white.

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An animated scene of electricity pylons in a field, including the apparent movement used in the Skipping Pylon demonstration.Moving image

Skipping Pylon

@IamHappyToast (on Twitter)

Some people report that they hear the sound of the pylon hitting the ground - a thudding or boinging noise - but not everyone does.

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Nine bright magenta discs arranged in a three-by-three square for an afterimage demonstration.

Negative Afterimages

Origin not specified in the source article

You should experience an image similar to the pink inducing circles in the region of the white inducing patch. It should exhibit inverted colours, appearing yellowish-green.

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A person stands beside a pavement painting of towering library shelves, appearing to reach into the painted space.

Bookworm

Gregor Wosik (1955 –), a Polish street artist

You should have the visual experience of a man reaching down to get a book from a librarian. However, although the man reaching down is real, the library and the librarian are just a…

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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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Original plan-view diagram of Pepper’s Ghost: a hidden figure is reflected in angled glass, appearing as a virtual figure on the visible stage.

Pepper’s Ghost

Henry Dircks and John Henry Pepper

A figure appears on an empty stage, transparent enough for the scenery to show through. Its real source is hidden elsewhere.

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A white dove and an outlined cloud against a red field, used in a colour-adaptation demonstration.

The Colour Dove Illusion

Yuval Barkan and Hedva Spitzer

In the first few seconds you should notice that the dove appears red—a faint version of the red that was in the background of the first image. You are experiencing a positive afterimage…

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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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Bertrand’s 1865 engraving showing a Pepper’s Ghost stage, audience sight lines and the concealed illuminated figure beneath it.

Victorian ghost shows — Pepper at the Polytechnic

John Henry Pepper; optical arrangement developed with Henry Dircks

A ghost shares the stage with a living actor, then fades away. Victorian ghost shows turned hidden performers and sheets of glass into public spectacles of apparent presence.

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An upright line meeting the midpoint of an equal-length horizontal line.

Horizontal–vertical illusion

Nineteenth-century researchers including J. J. Oppel

The upright line seems longer than its equal horizontal partner.

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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 cube — A familiar cube frame acquires an impossible set of overlaps.

Impossible cube

M. C. Escher; modern redraw by 4C and Belbury

A familiar cube frame acquires an impossible set of overlaps.

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A frontal view along Palazzo Spada’s short forced-perspective colonnade, towards a small statue.

The Corridor That Grows

Francesco Borromini, with Giovanni Maria da Bitonto

A short colonnade looks like a much longer passage.

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Enlarged image from the selected gallery entry