Optical Illusions

Strange Pictures & Peculiar Landscapes (1)

Places and things that look like they could exist, but can't

Gameboard

Gameboard
See the original pencil drawing by Sandro del Prete

Madonna and Child - Adoration of the Magi

Madonna and Child ~ Adoration of the Magi
from the Pericope of Henry II ~ 1025

This is the oldest known illusion - the central pillar HAS to go behind the figures or it will obscure our view of them.

Section of a Cube

Section of a Cube
Mitsumasa Anno

interlocking wood puzzle

A Slightly Difficult Interlocking Wood Puzzle
Mitsumasa Anno

The Magpie on the Gallows

The Magpie on the Gallows
Pieter Breughel ~ 1568

Apolinere Enameled

detail from Apolinere Enameled
Marcel Duchamp ~ 1916 - 1917

Steps or Floor Tiles

from Steps or Floor Tiles
Bruno Ernst ~ 1984

The Wearisome and the Easy Way to the Top

The Wearisome and the Easy Way to the Top
Bruno Ernst ~ 1984

Frans Erens

Frans Erens
Watercolour ~ 1985

Hogarth's Satire on False Perspective

Hogarth's Satire on False Perspective
William Hogarth - 1754

Hogarth's Satire on False Perspective is full of oddities of perspective, scale and vanishing points. Almost every part of the engraving is full of them There are over half a dozen just in this detail from it...

Detail from Hogarth's Satire on False Perspective

Detail from Hogarth's Satire on False Perspective
William Hogarth - 1754

Samuel Ireland after Hogarth, 1794

Samuel Ireland after Hogarth, 1794
The Absurdity of False Perspective
Pen and ink with wash
Samuel Ireland (1744-1800) was a weaver in Spitalfields who turned engraver and print dealer, and became fanatical collector and promoter
The British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Steps

Steps
Fred van Houten ~ screenprint ~ 1984

Megalithic Monument

Megalithic Monument
Macauley / Ernst ~ Ink drawing

Double Guarded Gateway to the Wintery Arcadia

Double Guarded Gateway to the Wintery Arcadia
Jos de Mey ~ Acrylic on canvas ~ 1983

Carefully restored Roman ruin ...

Carefully restored Roman ruin in a forgotten Flemish locality with Oriental influences
Jos de Mey ~ ink drawing ~ 1983

Caryatids

Caryatids
Oscar Reutersvard / Bruno Ernst

Strange Pictures 2

This page created June 7, 1999; last modified August 7, 2021