Cheshire Cat Optical Illusion

Concentrate, and watch the blue vapor disappear
Concentrate, and watch the blue vapor disappear

Even though visually simple, I promise you that the optical illusion effect this picture holds – is more than great!  Before we start, I’d like to point that the Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat popularized by Lewis Carroll’s depiction of it in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The Cheshire Cat has had a notable impact on popular culture, where its grin is reminiscent of the vagaries of a trickster.

Now here’s what I’d like you to do: hold your head in a perfectly still position, and then concentrate on the cat’s nose. Try looking at it for as long as you can, and after a minute or so, you’ll notice that the blue vapor has completely disappeared. Not only that, you’ll continue seeing cat’s outline, but after some additional time – complete cat should disappear! How strange is that? If you remember, back in the old days we posted few simmilar illusions to our “Color Adapting” category. You might want to check them first! Now I’m off to write another illusory post, so you have something to chew-on over the weekend.

43 Replies to “Cheshire Cat Optical Illusion”

  1. when i keep staring at this i see a a orange blodge encircling the cat, the blue is still there but i can make that fade away too. I like this one ;)

  2. i can’t seem to get the blue to go away, i stare at it and it some how fades out completely and then comes back then fades out weird?

  3. The blue is temporarily burning into your retinas, so you see anti-blue and it appears to disappear. Burning your eyes retinas, even temporarily is not a good idea. It’s the same thing that happens if you look at the sun or a camera flash.

  4. I don’t think a monitor is bright enough to “burn” any image into your retinas. The blue cones become tired, and stop seeing the blue haze, but it won’t cause any more damage than looking at any other picture.

  5. It takes a long time (up to 1.5 min) to make it work and you have to hold really still. When it does work pull your head back away from the monitor and the cat looks like a lion with a grand mane. It is a little orange but still looks cool.

  6. I’d like to point out that the cheshire cat does not first have its origins from Alice in wonderland it was just included. A chesire cat is what an artists from chesire impression of what a lion might look like when they had only been seen rarely and described to the artist rather than actually having seen one. The comical image of what was thought was shown is why it was included in the story.

  7. I couldn’t quite make the blue go away on this one. much less the cat. I have seen this type of illusion before and it worked.

    There’s another illusion here too.. Get up close and stare at nose for about 30 seconds, then slowly move back. The kittle will be surrounded by a halo of fire (reddish/orange color).

  8. The color photoreceptors in your retina eventually adapt to a stimulus, much like your skin adapting to the hottub. The haze is still there but your brain no longer interprets it. This is also completely harmless to your vision.

  9. It has nothing to do with “burning into your retinas” and is not the same thing as looking at the sun or camera flash. It is your brain adapting to the colour temperature and correcting for it. Sort of like an automatic white-balance.

    PS I can’t get the Cyan (it is not blue) to disappear. It certainly fades, but the cat does not fade at all. Interesting orange after image though.

  10. i found that both the cat and the vapour disappeared, then they came back and there was an orangey-red ring around it

    cool illusion, whatever it’s doing to my eyes!

  11. yep I save same as above – the blue is barely visible but never leaves but then I get an orange halo that pops all over the outside of the cat’s face

  12. The blue almost disappeared, but of more concern was the way everything started swaying and misting over! Is not blinking for 10 minutes too long?!

    1. Yes Yes not blinking for a whole ten minutes is bad for your eyes did you not know that LOL FUNNY

  13. ummm….i see the white cat outline, and i see the cyan. none of it goes away or changes color. im staring at it, and it does nothing.

  14. He’s now formally knows as the Unitary Authority of Warrington Cat. His mother calls him Archibald. (Jasper Fforde, The Thursday Next series)…This one’s good!

  15. I just get the orange bit around the cat however no matter how much I look at it the blue or the cat never goes away :(
    Still I think it is cool

  16. Omg. When I looked everything other than the nose and a small bit of blue haze around it disappeared!!

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