KS 34 Artists have used “visual illusion” in their work in many ways. Rene Magritte questioned the difference between illusion and reality, as in “The Human Condition” (see page 9), where a canvas placed in front of a window has on it a painting that is also part of the landscape which can be seen outside. This idea can be easily replicated using digital photographs taken both inside a room and outside. Victor Vasarely, an abstract painter of the 1960s Op Art movement, created an illusion of three dimensions on a flat canvas. Study one of his pictures with your pupils by asking them how he uses perspective to suggest to the eye that some of the forms seem to come out, while others recede. Vasarely also used the phenomenon that cool colours seem to recede and warm colours advance to further confuse the eye.

For examples of optical illusions that can be used by pupils as starting points refer to Japanese Optical and Geometrical Art and www.sandlotscience.com