Mighty Optical Illusions » Sandro Del Prete

Till Eulenspiegel Optical Illusion

Vurdlak — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:54:59 +0000

I had this one on my computer for couple of months, until I finally decided to share it with you. I know I’m about to be flamed, but in my mind the optical illusion present puts “decency question” in second plan. Hope I haven’t offended anyone. Anyway, what you see below is a somewhat naughty ad for a theater play. In the first plan there is an image of Till Eulenspiegel wearing a jester hat. The lady behind the board is doing something, but you can’t be really sure what, can you? The two combined show a funny result. Till Eulenspiegel was an impudent trickster figure, who originated in the German folklore and was disseminated in popular printed editions. He made his entrance in English-speaking culture in nineteenth century, but was first mentioned in English Literature by Ben Jonson in his comedy play “The Alchemist”. General opinion now tends to regard Till Eulenspiegel as an entirely imaginary figure around whose name was gathered a cycle of tales popular in the Middle Ages. You can find more of this character on Wikipedia.

Is this Till Eulenspiegel wearing a jester hat, or something entirely different?

Megafon’s Folded Chessboard

Vurdlak — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:30:02 +0000

Just found this great advertisement done by one of the largest Russian mobile communication companies Megafon (which unfortunately, I never heard of). If you’ve been following our website from its very start, the photo below may look somehow familiar to you. Yes, we posted “The Terrace” optical illusion (article title: “Parallel World”) back in March 2006. But the most interesting part is that both of these are just a variation of an even older original. Let me explain this further…

Ad for Russian mobile communication company Megafon, inspired by Sandro Del-Prete

Sandro Del Prete's original "Folded Chessboard". Click to see it in full size.

Check out the thumbnail on your right. It has been cropped, but when you open it in full size, you’ll see the original artwork done by Sandro Del-Prete titled “Folded Chessboard“. This piece of art was created all the way back in 1975, and I’m still not sure how it managed to slip my attention when I posted complete opus of Sandro Del-Prete’s artwork.

"The Terrace" by David Mcdonald. Click to see it.

Anyway, “The Terrace” optical illusion we talked about earlier is JUST ONE in the sea of successful variations of Sandro Del Prete’s “Folded Chessboard”. If you browse the web, and search for Chessboard Illusions you will find dozen of examples. The Terrace was David Mcdonald’s first published illusion. It proved very popular in the last few years, and it can be found all over the web now. The most interesting part is that when compiling “The Terrace”, David took more than sixty purpose taken photographs, and used them to create this image you see on your left. I’m looking forward to hear you thoughts, and be sure to explain which of the three optical illusions posted today you find the best. Also, do you find “in depth articles” like this one I compiled today more interesting, or would you prefer more illusions per day but with less text? An idea struck my head to start posting new optical illusion every 6 hours or so, but then only few lines of text would accompany each article. Share your view on this, I beg you.

Sandro Del Prete’s Optical Illusion Art

Vurdlak — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:49:21 +0000

We’ve been posting Sandro Del Prete’s optical illusion artworks for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately he was never properly credited for those mega popular illusions he created. When I learned that he was the artist behind all those pieces of art, I’ve browsed through every each of his illusions from the past and tagged them with “Sandro Del Prete” tag. You may check all his previous works by clicking this tag. Today I bring you one of his awesome impossible paintings, not so many people even heard of. I have included the gallery beneath this image, and added as much new illusions from Sandro I could find. Many of them were covered before, but many new ones were added additionally. Few days ago you asked why is there a need for gallery, when it would be easier for you to see all photos that are part of the set just in one page. I’m aware of this, but as I always been transparent to you guys, the reasons follow – First thing that gallery enables is faster page loading. By having only one image on each page with additional set thumbnails, makes it much smaller in size, thus faster to load. Second, and more important reason (for me as webmaster), is that by opening each new image in a separate page, adds another impression to this website. By this I mean loading new ads each time the new illusion is opened. This shouldn’t effect you, but enables me to provide our sponsors with more impressions. Hope this answers your question, and explains role of our newly added galleries. Now little bit of Sandro’s biography.

Sandro Del-Prete was born in 1937, and is a Swiss artist who paints figures, situations and processes that cannot exist in the real world. Comparisons can be drawn between Del-Prete and Escher’s artwork, although they differ in subject matter, style, mood and technique. Del-Prete greatly admires Escher and believes that they are ‘kindred spirits’, however the viewer will find very little mathematical precision in Del-Prete’s work, something that is always present in Escher’s work.

Sandro Del Prete - Crusader Illusion

Check out the previous work of Sandro Del Prete

In Which Direction Does This Train Travel?

Vurdlak — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:01:00 +0000

Dear Scott! Now this is an illusion! Hmm… I wasn’t trying to impersonate Doc. Emmet Brown from Back to The Future, just wanted to literally thank Scott for sending me this awesome animation below. When I first saw it, I almost tossed it down the trash can, but in the last moment I noticed what is so special about it. Just like the spinning lady was spinning in both directions, same thing goes for this cargo train. First I saw it travel towards the left, but when I (by accident) noticed it’s wheels, I started seeing it move towards right. Great fun starts when you try to switch it’s direction each second. Can you also do it, or is it only me being a pro by now? If you ask yourself why did I add another train image in the upper right corner, well its because of the Mac Widget. Apparently, when the animations are shown in the widget it uses much of your CPU power, so I set it to show the first (static) image instead. Do you see how I look after you? Hope its appreciated :) And this is Scott’s original email: “Hello, I saw this animation posted to a picture community I’m part of, and it reminded me of the “which way is it turning?” illusions you’ve posted. At first I saw it moving to the left, then going to the right, and it took some work to get it going left again. Here you go. Thanks for the site!”

Yet Another Einstein Optical Illusion

Vurdlak — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:25:00 +0000

I think with today’s optical illusion we officially became most comprehended “Albert Einstein” memorial community. There were probably dozen of illusions that involve Einstein in one way or another. Am not exactly sure why he continues to be such an inspiration to all the optical illusion creators – could be because of his eccentric looks? Dunno. Well I have underlined, and linked all the related keywords within this text, and connected them with related Albert Einstein illusions from the past. If you have a moment to spare, be sure you check them all. I’m sure you’ll have an interesting experience. Oh, and almost forgot – image you see on your left contains a hidden illusion, similar to this old couple. Can you find it yourself? If you have trouble seeing it, be sure to open the image in full size. Btw, some of you complained how you stopped seeing new illusions inside your “My Yahoo” homepage, since we added the little “digg” button. I have temporary removed it, so please comment if the problem still exists.

Illusion of Two Fists

Vurdlak — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000

So, do you see the two fists breaking the wall below? I sure did, but when I was told by the person who submitted this one, that the second fist is actually a mother holding her child, I was amazed. Look closely at the both figures, as identical as they may seem, in reality they represent something completely different! Anyone knows what is the name of the author of this interesting picture? Please share!

A Rose is Still a Rose

Vurdlak — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:34:00 +0000

Assignment of the day: first of all download.. errrm… buy Aretha Franklin’s song “A Rose is Still a Rose” to get you in the mood, and then look at the optical illusion below. Rose is popular motive in literature, art and romance. Well, optical illusions are tightly connected with art. The image below belongs to “Multiple Meanings” category, and that is only hint you’ll get from me. Look at the image, observe it, and try to figure why it’s an optical illusion in it’s nature. If you noticed, the style is very similar to What Do You See Illusion and Autumn Motives. Probably they all came from the same artist. I believe there were few more similar ones posted in the past, but I can’t recall them. Use the search box in the sidebar if you wish, after you download Fergie ringtones from the bottom of the site :P

St. Georgious vs Dragon Illusion

Vurdlak — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 17:23:00 +0000

Hy guys (and gals)! Just came home from my trip to Austria (Graz), so just a quick update, so that you know I’m alive and well. I’ll write more in the evening, but here is one illusion for all your “Optical Illusion of The Day” widgets and gadgets, so they can update them selves with new optical illusion.

Illusion you see below was submitted by Fabián Vargas, and even though I’m not exactly certain, I believe it pictures a Saint. More precisely – St. Georgius, the saint that is often showed on a white horse, with a sword in his right hand, above the dragon that represents evil. In the beginning of Christianity, dragon symbolized paganism. By the legend, St. Georgius fought the dragon on the beach, outside of city walls. He killed him to protect the king’s daughter which was meant to be sacrificed to the dragon.

Who would tell that religion can be so interesting ;) In many paintings, along with St. Georgious, there was a princess pictured in the corner, while praying for her savior. All these details made me spot similarity with this painting. When you look at it, first you’ll see is a face of young man/girl, but if you look at her/his hair, you can see a person on a horse, fighting with evil dragon. I believe the big face belongs to praying princess, and the hair represents battle with the dragon. Correct me if I’m wrong…

Autumn Motives

Vurdlak — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 00:58:00 +0000

Summer is here, never the less here’s one illusion that reminds us of Autumn. I’m personaly more of a summer type, but beleive it or not, some people prefer Autumn… there are even Winter-type of people! Never understood them, but hey, it’s free world! Isn’t it? The question is: do you see falling leaves or young girl, sleeping there calmly?

What Do You See Illusion

Vurdlak — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 19:30:00 +0000

What do you see in the picture below? Look at the picture, then jump inside this post for an explanation.

Scientific research showed that children can’t recognise erotic scenes.

Instead they see 9 dolphins.

On the other hand, adult’s mind is rather “corrupted” so adult person may have problems spoting 9 dolphins at first eye glaze.

If you have trouble spoting dolphins in the first 6 seconds, then your mind is heavily corrupted, and you are seriously obsessed with sex! …better go and practice with easier examples.