Two Heads Play Orchestra

Two Heads Better Than One
Two Heads are Better Than One

I’ll need some help from you guys concerning this one. I’ve recently received this optical illusion from an unknown visitor, with title saying: “Two heads are better than one“. Further description said something about an optical illusion in lady’s orchestra. I’m not sure if this was some kind of a joke, but apparently there is something else hidden inside this picture. My guess is that there is another person’s head seamlessly integrated within the photo, but I had no luck spotting it. Let us solve this one together. If the illusion wasn’t that cool, don’t blame me – I couldn’t see it, thus had no chance deciding if its good enough to appear on our website. To be frank, I enjoy this kind of illusions the most (the ones I never managed to solve myself). This give me an opportunity to enjoy reading your comments, and participating in the open debate. You can click the image to see it in full size, which may help seeing the illusion better.

196 Replies to “Two Heads Play Orchestra”

  1. Sorry, I don’t see it. I was thinking it was one of those classic illusions, where the chin of one is the nose of other or something like that.

    I’ve tried looking at het chin, forehead, hair, bussum, her waist and her hips, I’ve tried flipping it upside down…

    Haven’t seen anything…

  2. I think I see it…but it’s a long shot. I kind of see the right-side of an old man’s face that’s formed out of the back of her dress (the old man’s hair), the bow of her dress on her shoulder (old man’s eyebrow), her armpit (old man’s eye), and the old man’s nose is a combination of her right arm, her cello, and the background.

  3. Some things that are wrth mentioning:
    -Doesn’t it seem like she has a tear or something on her face?
    -Doesn’t her dress look funny around her breasts and bottom, the excess cloth seem to curl in a strange way.

  4. There’s possibly an ugly little animal face in the folds of her dress at her bosom, and I also wonder about the funny fold line at her throat, but I can’t make anything of it. The hair has the profile of a witchy nose facing the other direction but I think that is circumstantial.
    By the way, isn’t the top section of the instrumant called a Fiddle “Head”?

  5. By her hand that is on the neck of the instrument, there is a child’s face outline (looking toward the woman.)

  6. If you back away from the screen, you can make out the image of a smiling woman’s face from underneath a parasol. (Just my 2 cent guess;)

  7. If you look at her hair, there appears to be two faces, one behind, one in front. The one behind looks like an ogre, the one in front, just a facial appearance. But yes you have to be imaginative.

  8. its the back of her hair..you can see the nose and shape of the face..could be an old woman or man..the top of her hair is the persons hat

  9. I agree with Al about the hair – only I see three figures in her hair.
    1. Just above her ear I see a face (although slightly deformed) with only one eye, a button nose and a gaping mouth.
    2. Then right above that ‘face’ is a man that is hunched over and holding his right arm out as if in supplication.
    3. A man whose profile is the right top of her hair with his bearded chin ending on her forehead.

  10. It’s kind-of easy to spot. In her hair, right at the place where the two styles collide, (the wave-like style and the straight, single-curl style), you can see a little man who looks like he’s sticking out of her hair. And while you cannot see the man’s feet, you can see both of his arms. Furthermore, the one that would be his right arm looks like it’s holding a violin or veolia to his chin, like he is playing it. That’s just my guess though. ^.^

  11. I agree with Al above, I can see the face of a child or maybe a cherub at the very top tip of her hair. The face is looking left. This illusion is kinda disappointing because there is no definite answer.

  12. Wow, cant you see it, it looks like a crow perched in her hair, either that, or when you look at the back of her it kind of looks like a face with old bushy eyebrows. you choos, but i think i see it

  13. It’s the head of the bass.

    Two “heads” (the lady’s and the bass’) are better (at playing) than one (either the lady playing with no bass, or the bass playing itself).

  14. The idea isn’t that there’s hidden faces, it’s simply that her head is connected to the head of the bass.

    It isn’t rocket science people.

  15. Look at her hair. On the back there appears to be a lion’s face and on the front of her hair is the profile of a face that is reminiscent of the New Hampshire face in the mountain – which I believe has now crumbled.

  16. I think I see it. There is a pointy chinned sour looking face beneath the woman’s chin, down to her cleavage. The shadow under her jaw line is the eye, her chin is the eyebrow, and her cleavage is the pointed chin. Cover the woman’s facial features, which is the hidden face’s forehead, with your mouse pointer, and it should just leap out at you.

  17. I’m not so sure of this one, but my best guess would have to be that the double bass and the ladys hair form the nose while the curling part of the bass(sorry I’m not much of a musician) is his eye.

  18. Ok. The bow on her shoulder is a man’s eyebrow. Her arm is the bridge of his nose. The shadow under her armpit is his eye. The wrinkles in her bustle make up the crow’s feet next to his eye. He has a mustache and the picture is cut off above the mouth. The man is looking up from the bottom left toward the upper right corner.

  19. Looks to me like there are two heads in the back of her hair. On the very top, perhaps a vulture looking left, and lower on the left, facing left.. a small lion head?

  20. Thanks electricbuddha for posting the original source of this cartoon.

    To me it seems the most notable “odd” feature of this drawing is the way her hair is arranged. And given that the top of the double bass is the “head”, then I assume that the illusion is that her hair appears to be styled in such a way as to be piled up on top of her head, and then curled over towards the front, but wait, no, that curl is actually the double bass, not her hair.

  21. I dont know about two heads.. Unless her head is merged with the the bass.. But I do see her also playing a horn of some sorts. See its in her mouth, part of the bass neck.

  22. If you look at the top of her hair and look at it upside down you can clearly see another face. I think it is pretty cool. Pattie

  23. I see like a gargoyle head in her hair..
    plus kind of like a party scene. angled like looking at a chick yapping at a table and a bunch of people dancing or running after her.

  24. Mmmm…there seems to be some kind of Chewbacca like thing on top of her head, though it probably isn’t what we’re looking for. Just in case, I will say that if you look for a profile in the left side of her hair, looking away, you will find a strange looking creature with a panicked expression on its face.

    If you stare at it long enough, you go cross-eyed, and see two women. There you go.

  25. The only thing I see is what Rich (10:32pm) describes – a man “biting ner butt”. Her back forms the right side profile of a face (with the left side of the bow on her shoulder forming his eye). The back of her waist forms his nose.

    But this sort of breaks down when you try to find a mounth and chin. As Rich says, maybe the mouth is biting her butt, but if this really is an old image from the 19th century, I rather doubt that a man biting a woman’s butt would make it into print!

    In case this description is correct, the black area at the lower left corner would be the man’s beard.

    Also, Electricbuddha gave a web link (9:44pm) which was not quite complete. The full link is http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13502/13502-h/13502-h.htm Scoll down about 2/3rds through that page.

    This image appears to have originated in Punch (a British satirical magazine) in 1891. It is described as an ilusion, but no explanation is given.

  26. It’s not an ilusion. It is simply an old orchestral joke “two heads are better than one”, meaning hers and the instruments “head”.

  27. it is obviously in her hair on the left side. it is a devilish looking fella with one eye a nose and a goatee showing. or am i dumb? because it is there i am sure

  28. At the very top of her hair I see a tiny head and at the back of the hair I see an ominous sort of devilish face. Who knows.

  29. If you get far away and look just at the big white spaces you will see two faces looking at each other. The one on the right has a big pointy nose and the ladies hand is the mouth. The dress bow is the other one’s mouth. The back of her neck is the nose. That’s what I see.

  30. I see a hunched over person at the very top of her hair, and I see a ghoul(?) at about 10 o’clock from her ear. I have only had Snapple Peach Tea so far this evening.

  31. in the original image is so clear that it is part of his hair which forms the head of another person. it is clear that this other image is a little head just about where his hair finishes. I decide by the first of all his hair is the other head

  32. I also see a face that Trishane describes, but I see an old man with a beard. Her thumb on the neck of the instrument is his left eye. The left line of her wrist is his hooked nose. The right line of her wrist is his mouth. The tilt of his head is gazing at her chest. The top of the instrument by the start of the neck is his long-ish, thin beard (kinda like Uncle Sam’s).

  33. no no i really see it…the man’s mustache is all the way at teh bottom of her cello and then you can see the rest of his head when you turn sideways to look at it!

  34. The second head is the double bass itself. You can see the mouth, the hair and peices of its eye.

  35. I really think this may just be one of the first illusions draw out and their are faint faces in her hair, but who knows, lol, that would be my guess

  36. There’s two faces in her face – one of a young girl and one of an old lady. If you look closely she has two set of eyes!

  37. It helps if you are nearsighted. Take off your glasses and step back about 10 feet. The face is like a Monty Python type face. The arm is part of a long nose. The back of the head is not complete.

  38. I looked round and found a trunk
    Of a tiny elephant.
    I’ve looked for eyes till my own were crossed.
    Not one spot have I over glossed.
    I spied a horse, part of a troll,
    A rat or mouse or is it a mole?
    I even sought a spelling of head
    As I lied upon my bed.
    I spied a dog in this doggerel
    But I’ve not seen two heads at all.

  39. The illusion is just that the top of her hair is the same as the top of the instrument. If you want to erase the instrument from the picture, you must erase ONLY under the nose of the woman !

  40. It is in her hair that you can see another woman. The main part of her hair is the skirt and the woman is leaning back. Where the hair has a bit hang off to the left side is actually the hidden woman’s arm. You can see a profile of a face but not the face straight on. If I block all of the image but what sticks out from the neck, there seems to be a profile image as well. The back of her hair by her ear seems to have a rather angry face looking toward the back of the image. Pretty cool!

  41. i have seen this illusion when i was younger, it is an old lady, but i cannot make it out these days. lol

  42. This one is really terrific!
    – Step 10 feet away
    – Rotate your head 20 degrees left
    – Close your eyes a bit
    – You see an old lady appear (a kind of a
    witch)
    – The hawk-noise is the breast side of the youngladys dress
    – The hair of the young lady is the forehead of the old lady
    – and the backside of the neck is the old-ladys eye

  43. I don’t know about the old man but i definitely see the old woman/witch. The profile takes up the left half of the image. The musician’s hair is like the fringe. Shadows on her neck are the eyes. Shadows below armpit makes the nostril. And the right outline of the dress makes this really pointed chin with an almost smirk. I also do see a little of the weird ghoul face in her hair but it doesn’t seem as major as the witch/old woman.

  44. There are two heads – hers and the fiddlehead (the top part of a fern that is eaten as a vegetable in springtime)

  45. Amazed at the creative answers. The head is in the hair facing left…resembles an early composer…maybe.

  46. I think I’ve got it, it’s not terribly clear but it’s there.
    her breast is the chin, her leg the neck, her head makes the nose and there is a distortion in the hair which could definitely be considered an eye. The spiral of the bass is his quiff.
    Blur your eyes a bit and you might see it.
    it took me a couple of times of staring it to convince myself that this was the only solution.

  47. I see a sleeping boy his back to us. His head is at the bottom of the picture in the space between the bottom of the woman’s dress and the bass.

  48. I’m glad so many people can see the 2nd face. Myself, well, I have tried everything suggested and still it alludes me; but I’ve enjoyed trying to find it. Keep up the good work!

  49. i see a man wearing sunglasses the sunglasses are the part between the cello and the womans dress. perhaps if i could take this from a philisophical perspective maybe this illusion is designed so that different people see different faces depending on their personality, or the way they see things. like if you look at a tree who’s to say everybody else sees a tree excactly the way you do.

  50. Looking at it again, it’s so obviously a witch/old lady!! I didn’t notice the right eye before. I thought it was somewhere else but seeing it makes the old lady very obvious. She’s looking out of the corner of her eye.

    The old lady’s eye is the back of the musician’s hair. The part that looks a little the ghoul or lion or whatever. It’s the ring like bit just above the shadow on musician’s neck.

  51. there is an itty bitty face just where the hair smooths out into the hat !!! (about a 1/4 of an inch big)

  52. Turn the picture over 180, the curvature in her instrument shapes the out line of a mans head, appearing to be looking back over his left shoulder. You can plainly see face details.

  53. If your short sighted take your glasses off and squint really hard and you can see a mans head facing top right to bottom left merging into an old lady facing left to right. Now put your glasses back on and go get an asprin as this gives you a proper good headache.

  54. I agree on the “creepy guy in the hair”
    It looks like in her hair some lion/demon like person is looknig to the left,
    it’s a ll i have seen and is best shown in the big picture..
    Anyway, good luck on finding the real illusion ^.^”

  55. Not that you could’t see a second face at all – but you could manage to see about as many as in a tuna pizza with the same effort.

    So Vurdlak, please, if you ever get this one solved, give us another copy with the second face outlined in colour.

  56. To our leftside of her bicep is black hair and on the right side of her bicep is the sideview of a man’s head with a slightly balding front. He has a long, slightly bending nose.
    The lines on her left breast are his fingers, and the middle line going up to her neck could be part of an instument.So far, that is all I can see.

  57. I GET IT!

    you guys are all wrong
    its not an actually face! its that there are two “heads” on the cello or whatever!

    its soooo obvious!

  58. There is absolutely NOTHING in there! You guys are seeing things you wanted to see. There are some vague facial shapes in her hair, but nothing concrete.

    Well, I appreciate and respect your opinions, but here’s mine: The sender of the image is pulling your legs! It is some kind of a joke! There is no illusion in this one.

    Other than that, this site rocks, man! Keep up the good work!

  59. At first I blew off Anne’s comment about two faces in one because it seemed too silly and easy. But now I am SURE that is it. One face is looking down and one face is looking ahead. It is really good! You have to enlarge the picture to get it. Great illusion!

  60. No matter how long i look I just can’t see it. I’ve looked sideways backwards upside down I can’t see it.

  61. The thing about these kind of illusions is that it should be painfully obvious after you have spotted it.

    I honestly cant see much of what everyone else is saying. I think, its simply the fact that the Top of the Bass looks like its part of her hair.

  62. honestly i think its a load of bull and its just a woman playing (idk the name of the instrument) and was made to make us all fell crazy or stupid or both if you’re like me

  63. I’ve been staring for 20 minutes. I’ve rotated the image, stood back 30 feet, enlarged, shrunk it, and read every comment explaining where the illusion is, and I still dont’ see a bloody thing. :)

    Here’s my thoughts:

    The person who sent it to was told it was an illusion, but couldn’t find it. So they sent it to you, Vurdlak, because “two heads are better than one” for solving it. Afterall, you are the Illusion Master. :)

    Perhaps someone was playing a trick on the person who sent this to you, and there really is no illusion?

    :-P

  64. I found that the armpit looked strikingly like an eye. Another commenter stated the her arm formed the outline of the nose (and the curvature of the skinny part of the base kinda reverses to look like flared nostrils). If you imagine the darker part at the bottom as a mustache and the armpit as an eye, you can make out a face.

  65. Is it really this:
    There are actually no two complete faces. The Lady has just got two (pairs) of eyes. At first I see her looking forward, but the wrinkle underneath it is also her eye looking down?

    That should be easy to spot, if you cover her eye with your finger. But if that’s it, I would say it should say: “Four eyes see more than two” (which is also a saying here in Germany (is it in English, too?)).

  66. It seems to be fairies on the hair. If I look closely to the leftmost part of the hair, it seems to be a devil face.

  67. Anne and others are right. I’m sure of it. The illusion is in the face — first the young woman, and if you keep staring, the face of an old crone suddenly becomes visible.

    I don’t care to admit how much time I’ve spent today looking for the solution. I never did see the hooked nose, the mustache, the beard of Uncle Sam, the lady in the hair, the eye at the armpit etc – you guys all have a great imagination.

    Still I’m convinced that the solution is in the face. The old crone’s face pops up if you stare long enough. Thanks Ann and who ever else put me in that direction.

    Karen

  68. i dont know if this is it or not but if you look at the top left of her hair close up, it looks like there is another womans head with an arm sticking out or something!!!

  69. it’s a man’s face facing the same direction as the woman. his eye is the dark spot below the woman’s armpit. the woman’s chest forms the man’s forehead and the left silhouette of the musical instrument outlines the man’s nose and just below it is his mustache. the woman’s thigh covers the man’s cheek.

    i’m such a fan of this site. it’s a part of my daily habit to check updates here. thanks for all the wonderful posts. this site is amazing. :)

  70. The face is there all right, it is looking to the left.
    it is an old man with a beard, looking to the left.
    His eye is the space under her chin, her arm becomes his mustache and her leg (with skirt) is his beard. the bow on her shoulder is his nose. have another look and you will see it

  71. That was way TO EASY I found it in about 30sec… there is a small face in the back of her hair, and I believe her hair and the curl in the instrument are the hat/hair..

  72. “Still I’m convinced that the solution is in the face. The old crone’s face pops up if you stare long enough”

    If you look long enough anything will start to look like something else..

  73. it might be that, when you turn the picture completely upside down, it looks like a different face. it looks like she has droopy eyes and is smiling when the pic is upside down. then right side up, she looks like she’s looking down with no expression on her face.

    idk. its just a guess

  74. The only thing I see that resembles a head is at the back of her hair., there’s a beast like face looking left

    But that probably isn’t it.. Her chest area looks very tricky so I’m guessing the face is in there some where, or at least part of the face.

  75. to me it looks like there is some sort of like a birds head at the top of her hair but i could just be like wierd

  76. It is in the folds of her dress it looks like a little demon face. It is right by her left breast facing the instrument.

  77. its the top of her hair if you look closely at the enlarged picture you can see a lady wearing a dress

  78. What a tough 1! goes to show that optical illusions can be anywhere! There might not of even been one,maybe so many have been found cos we are hardout looking for it!

  79. Oh!! I see it, though it’s kind of dumb. Her hair looks like the “head” of the chello. See, the neck goes up behind her head, and the curly head of the chello is her hair.

  80. I think I found it, and it’s not the head of the cello. Look at the back of her waist. That invert spot is the outline of a large nose. It’s like that Rubin Vase illusion.

  81. Hasnt anyone noticed that her ear looks like an eye and her chest kinda looks like a nose? Unfortunetly thats all i got. This is a toughy.

  82. look at the picture from a distant…say abt 1.5fts…semi close ur eyes…making the pic kinda hazy…you’ll see a face without from nose to teeth…her armpits is face’s nose and er and the sourrounding at the bottom of the pic makes teeth. rear end of the picture..the whole butt and shade make a perfect cheek.

  83. “Kate
    August 6, 2009 at 1:54 am

    Oh!! I see it, though it’s kind of dumb. Her hair looks like the “head” of the chello. See, the neck goes up behind her head, and the curly head of the chello is her hair.”

    OMG!!! geeez, i get it, that is SO dumb!!!!! it’s ‘two’ heads, like her head and the cellos head -_-

  84. If you squint your eyes and look at it from about a foot away, you can sort of see a different head where hers is, but it’s looking at you.

  85. Just look at her face upside down. You can see her mouth open and she looks happy. Right way up her mouth is closed and droopy.

  86. i solved it!!! look between the neck and where the chest starts to form. there’s like a small bump there. that is a mouth(part of the lower lip). then, the girls whole face is a nose. last, the instruments scroll that is above the girls head is an eye. I think it is some face of a monster?

  87. The upper body of of the instrument the lady is playing looks like a medium length haired youth on his knees, facing the lady. The neck of the instrument looks like a ding dong, orgasm in lady’s head.
    A women playing a man by his ding dong.
    two heads are better than one.

  88. It seems like there could be an eye under her arm, the hair could be eyelashes. The nose is the space between the ladies body and the instrument. The other eye is under the brow formed by the ladies left breast. If you ignore the arm she is holding it seems pretty clear.

  89. If you look closer at ther back of the ladys hair you can see another head of a man with bamgs and his face,,, cool

  90. Okayy all of ya. Ill tell ya all da illushun. See dat hair on da womanz? Her hairz iz the head (technical term) fer da violin. And no im not drunk while typing this message.

  91. ok people look under her chin and click on the photot to enlarge it there is a small little squigle which is a girls head and theres a little eyelash sticking out, and the entire chello or what ever is its body

  92. You guys..it says, ‘two HEADS are better than one’, not “Two FACES…’…someone said it already, it’s her head and the head of the instrument blended together.

  93. After trying to solve it the clever way, I believe the second head is in the back of her hair. Thus this second head can help the lady play the instrument, being plugged into her brain. It would be more interesting if this second head was not planned by the painter, and that it appeared by chance. If not then this is a lame hidden second face.

    1. I do believe it to be a joke. There’s a vegetable that grows around here and it has a long stalk and a spiraling tip, much like the head of the womans cello. There called Fiddle heads. :D

  94. It’s two faces overlapping each other.
    Both faces share the same features except the ‘eyes’.

    A easy way to see it is to cover the ‘higher’ set of the eyes with your finger.
    In other words,the bags under her eye is the second(lower) set of eyes.

  95. if you start tracing from the top of the Violin down towards where her knees would be, You will trace the side view of someones face. You will see an eyebrow and their nose.

  96. Is it like the young maid/ old witch illusion. The young woman’s head might be the old maids nose or something but I can’t see how it works :S

  97. ok the music sheet is a sideburn,teh line that goes to her hand is the jaw line and the black area of her hair is an eye,her hand on the neck is teh other teh man either has a beard or his fist is resting on his chin.kind of Sigmund freud lookin guy.

  98. Top left — just under where the curvature of the cello begins — there’s a cute little face there.

  99. nope, you guys all have it wrong.

    unfocus your eyes a bit on the smaller picture, it works best. Her arm kinda runs through the illusion, breaking it up, so it is difficult to see: Her breast is the nose, her hair is the brow, the area just below her crotch on her skirt and in front of that is her lips, the dark hair on the nape of her neck is her eye, and the chin is at the very bottom of the skirt. the profile is looking to the right…
    ;)

  100. there’s an old man’s face with long beard at the left side.
    The shoulder lace is his eyebrow.
    the curve of her waist is his nose.

    1. It is the face of an old man with a beard all the way to the left of the picture. We’re seeing part of the right side of his face, as if he’s standing in front of us watching her.
      If you cover up most of the woman with your right hand, showing only the back of her skirt (his beard) and the back of the bow on her sleeve (his eyebrow), you can see it. Where her waist cinches in is his nose. The dark spot under the bow on her sleeve is his eye, with the bow as the eyebrow.

  101. oh em gee, her hair is michael jackson touching a little kid….note the sarcasm there… this picture just wasted a lot of my time.

  102. The illusion is that the scroll of the cello looks like an extreme hairdo at first. Trace the cello from the main part back up to the top to see it.

  103. In musical terms, the top of the violin is called the head of the instrument. The lady’s hair also shares the violin’s head, hence “Two heads are better than one” by the way i’m only in my teens and i figured this out.

    1. What Amy said is totally logical. (The 1 w/the violin has a “head”) but the insturment looks as if an old fashion cello. Am I right because I am not the conducted of an orchestra I don’t know these things :p

    2. thx, it really took me a LONG time trying to look for a HUMAN head, not an instrument head.
      oh well.

  104. Amy is right, but i m still suspicious because lots of weird bold lines of violin and shadows on backgroud.

  105. The end of the violin, when seen from a distance, forms a nose and her chest makes the eye. It is a close up of a sideways profile of a face.

  106. resize the image to a smaller size….
    (plz dnt ask me how…jus use the resize or restore button on windows picture viewer – i did that)
    yes I saw the face of a old guy with long moustaches…
    here the hand of the lady is left side moustache of the old guy.
    back side of her head(hair) is one eye and the gap jus below her chin is the second eye…
    last but not the least…
    Top right white part is his HAT and
    bottom left or the ladies skirt is…lets say his broad chin or huge beard.. ;) :)

  107. The body of the cello could be the second face. It looks like two closed eyes and the squiggle on the cello is the nose.

  108. Amber is right.. still after reading all comments.. i think all r wrong.. the isslusion is way far from all this if there is any illusion!

  109. I can see the face of an ugly old man at the back of her head, starting at the nape of her neck. The dark patch is below his chin, I never read all the comments so dont know if anyone else has already said the same thing. What do you think?

  110. ^^^owen is right!!!^^^^^^

    If you look at the first eye to the left, and go down there looks like a darker black line, and it forms an eye. really there are two sets of eyes, try to see it!

  111. i think its just that the top of her head, the curvy part, could look like the top of the instrument, possibly, idk for sure, but i thought it meant that the head of the girl is the same as the instrument, thus two heads(instr. and girl) are better than one(girl alone).

  112. the illusion is in the hair on the right, you can see a guy look like zeus, looking toward you facing the sky , stare at the right side of the hair and you shall get it .
    Thank you

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