Illusions.im
One picture, two answers.
A white vase, or two profiles. A wire cube that flips. A hollow face that will not stay hollow. The facts are sourced; the drawings are our own.
One picture, two answers
The figure-ground illusion is commonly experienced in the illustration of a white vase whose outline is created by two black profiles. Britannica Scholars: illusion Seeing one aspect usually excludes seeing the other. Britannica Scholars: illusion
The vase-and-faces figure was first published in Rubin’s doctoral thesis, Synsoplevede figurer, in 1915. The Illusions Index: Rubin’s vase The Illusions Index credits the figure to Edgar John Rubin (1886–1951), a Danish psychologist and philosopher. The Illusions Index: Rubin’s vase
A short tour of the figures, then of what happens if you keep looking:
- What an ambiguous figure is, and how it differs from a hallucination
- The vase-and-faces figure, and Rubin’s 1915 thesis
- Figure and ground, a Gestalt principle
- The Necker cube, which may flip-flop
- The hollow face that will not stay hollow
- What happens when you keep looking
- Figure-ground pictures and reversible cubes
- Myths, including the personality test that is not a test
- A look-and-click game, a flip counter and a quiz
Printables
Fact-checked PDFs in A4 and US Letter, to be sold as instant downloads from the ReallyByte store. Prices in US dollars. Visit the shop.
Sister sites
- Size illusions — Why equal lines can look unequal, with sourced size illusions, drawings and games.
- Impossible objects — Pens, triangles and stairs that cannot exist in three dimensions, with drawings you can try yourself.
- Colour illusions — Colour and brightness effects, afterimages and a few things to make and try.