Optical Illusions
This or That?
The following images may be viewed in one of at least two different ways.
Which image do you see first?
What is this? A beggar or a face?
What can you see here?
Would it help to see the full image?
Photograph: Ronald C. James. Dalmatian Dog. 1966
Hint: The dog's tail and right back leg make up the right hand side of this image. The triangular dark area in the centre of the image is the dog's chest.
Can you see a face in the image?
This picture has been around since the 1950s, some say it dates from the 1930s, but I've never been able to trace the original. The story is that it was taken in China or California or Detroit or Norway or by a pilot flying over the Swiss Alps, and shows a face in the pattern of melting snow. Many see Jesus, but others see Lemmy from Motorhead.
A vase or head to head?
This illusion was developed around 1915 by Danish psychologist Edgar John Rubin (September 6, 1886 - May 3, 1951) and is known as Rubin's Vase.
My wife and my mother-in-law
by William Ely Hill (1887–1962) in 1915
Hint: The old hag is looking from right to left, the white triangular shape, bottom centre, is her chin. The young woman is looking away from us; the white triangle is now her chest.
Hill's image is very well known but not entirely original. This image comes from an 1888 German postcard.
A male representation of the old hag / young woman image
My husband and my father-in-law ~ Jack Botwinick (1923–2006)
A variation of the face pictures above ~ this one contains three.
As well as the young girl and the old woman this one also contains a mustashioed, large nosed, bald man who is looking to the right.
An Indian or an Eskimo?
Hint: The Indian head is looking to the left, the Eskimo to the right
Duck or Rabbit?
Hint: The duck is looking left, the rabbit, right
There's a piece of cheese missing, or is there?
Can you find it?
Is this drawing of a convex or a concave object?
How many people can you see in this picture?
What do you see here ? A donkey or a seal ?
Do you see an old man or a kissing couple ?
Can you see the three hidden faces?
Can you find the five hidden faces?
One face or two ?
Saxophone player or a woman's face?
Can you see a skull or a woman sat at a vanity table ?
RetroActive by Nels Isralson
A skull or a couple drinking ?
L'Amour de Pierrot c. 1905
A pair of gossips or the devil?
Gossip and Satan by George A. Wotherpoon
Is this the face of a liar ?
Old People or Spanish Scene?
Can you see the knight in the trees?
Is he looking at you?