Home History How We See Perception Types Use Activities Glossary Bibliography   Impossible Optical Illusions 3 Dimensional Illusions Camouflage And Optical Illusion Facial Illusions After Images Ambiguous Optical Illusions Distortion Illusions Colour And Shadow Illusions VIEW SOME OF MY BLOGS Runescape Car Crash Clips Crops & Commodities Games Online Periodic Table Funny Signs           Types ▬ Impossible Figures and Objects   In 1934 a Swedish artist named Oscar Reutersvärd made the first impossible triangle out of cubes. At that point, some artists had unintentionally created impossible figures, but Reutersvärd was the first to realize what he had done. From that day on, he created thousands of impossible figures. Today he is recognized as "the father of impossible figures." In the 1980s the Swedish government created a stamp to honor Reutersvärd's impossible triangle. It was issued for about two years and can be seen here. Look carefully at these figures, they are impossible to construct in three dimensions Impossible figures and objects sometimes reveal important insights into how we interpret 3D objects from 2D images. When looking at an impossible figure, it is hard to see how the parts fit together as a three dimensional object. It is really not the object that is in 3D, it is our interpretation of it. Given the chance to see something as 3D, your eyes will do so because they prefer 3D over 2D, or flat images. This type of illusion includes the "Impossible Triangle," the "Impossible Trident," and the "Impossible Staircase." The Mad magazine cover lots of optical illusion from 1965 perhaps the most famous one is an "impossible staircase" created by artist - M.C. Escher. < previous page   Home│ History│ How We See│ Perception│ Types│ Use│ Activities│ Glossary│ Bibliography│ Term│ Top Designed by Darwin Peczek Erskine Park High School