Our vision can very easily deceive our brain with simple color illusions that surround us everywhere. Some of these illusions await you further.
How many colors are there in the picture?
Blue and green spirals are actually the same color - green. There is no blue color here.
The brown square in the center of the top edge and the “orange” square in the center of the front edge are the same color.
Look carefully at the board. What color are cells “A” and “B”? Does “A” seem to be black and “B” white? The correct answer is below.
Cells “B” and “A” are the same color. Gray.
Does the lower part of the figure seem lighter? Use your finger to close the horizontal border between the top and bottom of the shape.
Do you see a chessboard with black and white cells? The gray halves of black and white cells are the same shade. Gray perceived either as black or white.
The horse figures have the same color.
How many color shades are there, not counting white? 3? 4? In fact, there are only two - pink and green.
What color are the squares here? Only green and pink.
Optical illusion
We look at the dot, and the gray stripe on the orange background becomes... blue.
In place of the disappearing purple spots, a green spot appears, moving in a circle. But in reality it doesn’t exist! And if you concentrate on the cross, the purple spots disappear.
If you look closely at a point in the center of a black and white image for 15 seconds, the picture takes on color.
Look at the center of the black dot for 15 seconds. The image will turn into color.
Look at the 4 dots in the center of the picture for 30 seconds, then move your gaze to the ceiling and blink. What did you see?
At the intersections of all white stripes, with the exception of the intersection at which you fix your gaze at the moment, small black spots are visible that are not really there.
Disappearance
If you look closely at the dot in the center for a few seconds, the gray background will disappear.
Concentrate your gaze on the center of the picture. After some time, the blurry colored images will disappear and turn into a solid white background.
22 August 2013, 16:34You don't have to be a great artist to draw a black square on a white background. Yes, anyone can do this! But here’s the mystery: “Black Square” is the most famous painting in the world. Almost 100 years have passed since it was written, and disputes and heated discussions do not stop. Why is this happening? What is the true meaning and value of Malevich’s “Black Square”?
"Black square" is a dark rectangle
Malevich's "Black Square" was first presented to the public at a scandalous futurist exhibition in Petrograd in 1915. Among the artist’s other outlandish paintings, with mysterious phrases and numbers, with incomprehensible shapes and a jumble of figures, a black square in a white frame stood out for its simplicity. Initially, the work was called “black rectangle on a white background.” Later the name was changed to "square", despite the fact that, from a geometric point of view, all sides of this figure are of different lengths and the square itself is slightly curved. Despite all these inaccuracies, none of its sides are parallel to the edges of the painting. And the dark color is the result of mixing various colors, among which there was no black. It is believed that this was not the author’s negligence, but a principled position, the desire to create a dynamic, mobile form.
"Black Square" is a failed painting
For the futuristic exhibition “0.10”, which opened in St. Petersburg on December 19, 1915, Malevich had to paint several paintings. Time was already running out, and the artist either did not have time to complete the painting for the exhibition, or was not satisfied with the result and, in the heat of the moment, covered it up by painting a black square. At that moment, one of his friends came into the studio and, seeing the painting, shouted “Brilliant!” After which Malevich decided to take advantage of the opportunity and came up with some higher meaning for his “Black Square”.
Hence the effect of cracked paint on the surface. There is no mysticism, the picture just didn’t work out.
Repeated attempts were made to examine the canvas to find the original version under the top layer. However, scientists, critics and art historians believed that irreparable damage could be caused to the masterpiece and in every possible way prevented further examinations.
“Black square” is a multi-colored cube
Kazimir Malevich has repeatedly stated that the painting was created by him under the influence of the unconscious, a kind of “cosmic consciousness”. Some argue that only the square in the “Black Square” is seen by people with underdeveloped imagination. If, when considering this picture, you go beyond traditional perception, go beyond the visible, then you will understand that in front of you is not a black square, but a multi-colored cube.
The secret meaning embedded in the “Black Square” can then be formulated as follows: the world around us, only at the first, superficial glance, looks flat and black and white. If a person perceives the world in volume and in all its colors, his life will change dramatically. Millions of people, who, according to them, were instinctively attracted to this picture, subconsciously felt the volume and colorfulness of the “Black Square”.
Black color absorbs all other colors, so it is quite difficult to see a multi-colored cube in a black square. And to see the white behind the black, the truth behind the lies, life behind death is many times more difficult. But the one who manages to do this will discover a great philosophical formula.
"Black Square" is a riot in art
At the time the painting appeared in Russia, there was a dominance of artists of the Cubist school.
Cubism (fr. Cubisme) is a modernist movement in fine art, characterized by the use of emphatically geometrized conventional forms, the desire to “split” real objects into stereometric primitives. Founders and largest representatives which included Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The term “cubism” arose from a criticism of the work of J. Braque that he reduced “cities, houses and figures to geometric patterns and cubes.”
Pablo Picasso, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon"
Juan Gris "Man in a Cafe"
Cubism had reached its apogee, all the artists were already quite fed up, and new ones began to appear artistic directions. One of these trends was Malevich’s Suprematism and the “Black Suprematist Square” as its vivid embodiment. The term “suprematism” comes from the Latin suprem, which means dominance, superiority of color over all other properties of painting. Suprematist paintings are non-objective painting, an act of “pure creativity”.
At the same time, the “Black Circle” and “Black Cross” were created and exhibited at the same exhibition, representing the three main elements of the Suprematist system. Later, two more Suprematist squares were created - red and white.
"Black Square", "Black Circle" and "Black Cross"
Suprematism became one of the central phenomena of the Russian avant-garde. Many talented artists experienced his influence. Rumor has it that Picasso lost interest in Cubism after he saw Malevich’s “square.”
“Black Square” is an example of brilliant PR
Kazimir Malevich saw through the essence of the future contemporary art: it doesn’t matter what, the main thing is how to present and sell.
Artists have been experimenting with the color “all black” since the 17th century.
First tight black work art called "Great Darkness" wrote Robert Fludd in 1617
He was followed in 1843 by
Bertal and his work " View of La Hougue (under the cover of night)". More than two hundred years later. And then almost without interruption -
"The Twilight History of Russia" by Gustave Doré in 1854, “Night Fight of Negroes in a Cellar” by Paul Bealhold in 1882, a completely plagiarized “Battle of Negroes in a Cave in the Dead of Night” by Alphonse Allais. And only in 1915 Kazimir Malevich presented his “Black Suprematist Square” to the public. And it is his painting that is known to everyone, while others are familiar only to art historians. The extravagant trick made Malevich famous throughout the centuries.
Subsequently, Malevich painted at least four versions of his “Black Square”, differing in design, texture and color, in the hope of repeating and increasing the success of the painting.
"Black Square" is a political move
Kazimir Malevich was a subtle strategist and skillfully adapted to the changing situation in the country. Numerous black squares painted by other artists during Tsarist Russia remained unnoticed. In 1915, Malevich’s square acquired a completely new meaning that was relevant for its time: the artist proposed revolutionary art for the benefit of a new people and a new era.
“Square” has almost nothing to do with art in its usual sense. The very fact of its writing is a declaration of the end traditional art. A cultural Bolshevik, Malevich met the new government halfway, and the government believed him. Before Stalin's arrival, Malevich held honorary positions and successfully rose to the rank of people's commissar FROM NARKOMPROS.
"Black Square" is a refusal of content
The painting marked a clear transition to awareness of the role of formalism in the visual arts. Formalism is the rejection of literal content in favor of artistic form. An artist, when painting a picture, thinks not so much in terms of “context” and “content”, but rather in terms of “balance”, “perspective”, “dynamic tension”. What Malevich recognized and his contemporaries did not recognize is de facto for contemporary artists and “just a square” for everyone else.
“Black Square” is a challenge to Orthodoxy
The painting was first presented at the futuristic exhibition “0.10” in December 1915. along with 39 other works by Malevich. The “Black Square” hung in the most prominent place, in the so-called “red corner”, where in Russian houses, according to Orthodox traditions hung icons. There art critics “stumbled upon” him. Many perceived the picture as a challenge to Orthodoxy and an anti-Christian gesture. Largest art critic At that time, Alexander Benois wrote: “Undoubtedly, this is the icon that the Futurists are putting up to replace the Madonna.”
Exhibition "0.10". Petersburg. December 1915
“Black Square” is a crisis of ideas in art
Malevich is called almost the guru of modern art and is accused of death traditional culture. Today, any daredevil can call himself an artist and declare that his “works” have the highest artistic value.
Art has outlived its usefulness and many critics agree that after “Black Square” nothing outstanding was created. Most artists of the twentieth century lost inspiration, many were in prison, exile or emigration.
“Black Square” is total emptiness, a black hole, death. They say that Malevich, after writing “Black Square,” told everyone for a long time that he could neither eat nor sleep. And he himself doesn’t understand what he did. Subsequently, he wrote 5 volumes of philosophical reflections on the topic of art and existence.
"Black Square" is quackery
Charlatans successfully fool the public into believing something that is not actually there. They declare those who do not believe them to be stupid, backward, and uncomprehending dullards who are inaccessible to the lofty and beautiful. This is called the "effect" naked king" Everyone is ashamed to say that this is bullshit, because they will laugh.
And the most primitive design - a square - can be ascribed with any deep meaning; the scope for human imagination is simply limitless. Not understanding what the great meaning of “Black Square” is, many people need to invent it for themselves so that they have something to admire when looking at the picture.
The painting, painted by Malevich in 1915, remains perhaps the most discussed painting in Russian painting. For some, “Black Square” is a rectangular trapezoid, but for others it is a deep philosophical message encrypted by the great artist.
Alternative opinions worthy of attention (from various sources):
- "The simplest and most essential idea of this work, its compositional and theoretical meaning. Malevich was a famous theorist and teacher of composition theory. The square is the simplest shape for visual perception- a figure with equal sides, therefore, it is from here that aspiring artists begin to take steps. When they are given the first tasks in the theory of composition, on horizontal and vertical rhythms. gradually complicating tasks and shapes - rectangle, circle, polygons. Thus, the square is the basis of everything, and black, because nothing more can be added. "(WITH)
- Some comrades claim that this is a pixel(jokingly, of course). Pixel (English pixel - short for pix element, in some sources picture cell) - smallest element two-dimensional digital image in raster graphics. That is, any drawings and any inscriptions that we see on the screen when enlarged consist of pixels, and Malevich was something of a seer.
- Personal "epiphany" of the artist.
The beginning of the 20th century marked an era of great upheavals, a turning point in people's worldview and their attitude to reality. The world was in a state when the old ideals of beautiful classical art had completely faded and there was no return to them, and the birth of a new one was predicted by great revolutions in painting. There was a movement from realism and impressionism, as the transfer of sensations, to abstract painting. those. First, humanity depicts objects, then sensations and, finally, ideas.
Malevich's black square turned out to be a timely fruit of the artist's insight, who managed to create the foundations of the future language of art with this simplest geometric figure, which conceals many other forms. By rotating the square in a circle, Malevich received geometric shapes cross and circle. When rotating along the axis of symmetry, I got a cylinder. A seemingly flat, elementary square contains not only other geometric shapes, but can create three-dimensional bodies. A black square, dressed in a white frame, is nothing more than the fruit of the creator’s insight and his thoughts about the future of art... (C)
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This picture, undoubtedly, is and will be a mysterious, attractive, always living and pulsating object of human attention. It is valuable because it has a huge number of degrees of freedom, where Malevich’s own theory is a special case of explaining this picture. It has such qualities, is filled with such energy, that it makes it possible to explain and interpret it an infinite number of times at any intellectual level. And most importantly, to provoke people to creativity. A huge number of books, articles, etc. have been written about the “Black Square”, many paintings have been created inspired by this thing, the more time passes from the day it was written, the more we need this riddle, which does not have a solution or, conversely, has an infinite number of them .
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p.s. If you look closely, you can see other tones and colors through the craquelure of the paint. It is quite possible that there was a painting underneath this dark mass, but all attempts to illuminate this painting with something were unsuccessful. The only thing that is certain is that there are some figures or patterns, a long stripe, something very fuzzy. Which may well not be the painting underneath the painting, but simply the bottom layer of the square itself, and the patterns could have been formed during the drawing process :)
Which idea is closest to you?
There are works of art that everyone knows. For the sake of these paintings, tourists stand in long lines in any weather, and then, once inside, they simply take a selfie in front of them. However, if you ask a tourist who has strayed from the group why he is so eager to look at the masterpiece, he is unlikely to explain why he suffered, pushed and suffered with the focal length. Often the fact is that due to the constant information noise around a particular work, its very essence is forgotten. Our task in the “Great and Incomprehensible” section is to remember why everyone should go to the Hermitage, the Louvre and the Uffizi.
The first painting in our section was the painting “Black Square” by Kazimir Malevich. It is perhaps the most famous and controversial work of Russian art, and at the same time the most recognizable in the West. So, a large-scale exhibition is currently taking place in London, dedicated to creativity artist. The main exhibit was, of course, “Black Square”. It can even be argued that European critics associate Russian art not with Karl Bryullov and Ilya Repin, but with Malevich. At the same time, unfortunately, few visitors to the Tretyakov Gallery or the Hermitage can clearly say why this painting is so famous. Today we will try to fix this.
Kazimir Malevich (1879 - 1935) “Self-Portrait”. 1933
1. This is not"Black Square", A"Black square on a white background"
And this is important. This fact is worth remembering like the Pythagorean theorem: it is unlikely to be useful in life, but not knowing it is somehow indecent.
K. Malevich “Black square on a white background.” 1915 Stored in Tretyakov Gallery
2. It's not a square
At first, the artist called his painting “Quadrangle,” which is confirmed by linear geometry: there are no right angles, the sides are not parallel to each other, and the lines themselves are uneven. Thus he created a movable form. Although, of course, he knew how to use a ruler.
3. Why did Malevich draw a square?
In his memoirs, the artist writes that he did this unconsciously. However, development artistic thought can be seen in his paintings.
Malevich worked as a draftsman. It is not surprising that at first he was fascinated by cubism with its regular forms. For example, the painting from 1914 is “Composition with Gioconda.” Black and white rectangles are already appearing here.
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On the left – Kazimir Malevich “Composition with Mona Lisa”. On the right is Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”, aka “La Gioconda”
Then, when creating the scenery for the opera “Victory over the Sun,” the idea of a square as an independent element appeared. However, the painting “Black Square” appeared only two years later.
4. Why square?
Malevich believed that the square is the basis of all forms. If you follow the artist’s logic, the circle and the cross are already secondary elements: the rotation of the square forms a circle, and the movement of white and black planes forms a cross.
The paintings “Black Circle” and “Black Cross” were painted simultaneously with “Black Square”. All together they formed the basis of a new artistic system, but the primacy was always with the square.
“Black Square” – “Black Circle” – “Black Cross”
5. Why is the square black?
For Malevich, black is a mixture of all existing colors, while white is the absence of any color. Although, this completely contradicts the laws of optics. Everyone remembers how they told us at school that black color absorbs the rest, and white connects the entire spectrum. And then we did experiments with lenses, looking at the resulting rainbow. But with Malevich it’s the other way around.
6. What is Suprematism and how to understand it?
Malevich founded a new direction in art in the mid-1910s. He called it Suprematism, which means “supreme” in Latin. That is, in his opinion, this movement should have become the pinnacle of all creative searches of artists.
Suprematism is easy to recognize: various geometric shapes are combined into one dynamic, usually asymmetrical composition.
K. Malevich “Suprematism”. 1916
An example of one of the artist's many Suprematist compositions.
What does it mean? Such forms are usually perceived by the viewer as children's multi-colored cubes scattered on the floor. Agree, you can’t draw the same trees and houses for two thousand years. Art must find new forms of expression. And they are not always clear to ordinary people. For example, the paintings of the Little Dutch were once revolutionary and deeply conceptual. In still lifes, life philosophy was reflected through objects. However, now they are perceived rather as beautiful pictures, the modern viewer simply does not think about the deep meaning of the works.
Jan Davids de Heem "Breakfast with fruit and lobster." Second quarter of the 17th century.
Each element in Dutch still lifes carries a certain symbolic meaning. For example, lemon is a symbol of moderation.
This harmonious system collapses when one gets acquainted with the paintings of the avant-garde artists. The system “beautiful - not beautiful”, “realistic - not realistic” does not work here. The viewer has to think what these strange lines and circles on the canvas could mean. Although, in fact, there is no less meaning in lemons in Dutch still lifes, it’s just that museum visitors are not forced to figure it out. In 20th-century paintings, you must immediately understand the idea of the work of art, which is much more difficult.
7. Was it really only Malevich who was so smart?
Malevich was not the first artist who began to create such paintings. Many masters of France, England and Russia were close to comprehending non-objective art. Thus, Mondrian in 1913–1914 created geometric compositions, and the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint painted so-called color diagrams.
Hilma af Klint. From the series SUW (Stars and Universe). 1914 – 1915.
However, it was from Malevich that geometry acquired a clear philosophical overtones. His plan clearly followed from the previous artistic movement– cubism, where objects are divided into geometric shapes, and each of them is painted separately. In Suprematism, they stopped depicting the original form; artists switched to pure geometry.
Pablo Picasso "Three Women". 1908
An example of cubism. Here the artist does not yet abandon the prototype form - the human body. The figures look like the work of a sculptor-carpenter, who seemed to have created his work with an axe. Each “cut” of the sculpture is painted with a shade of red and does not go beyond the boundaries.
8. How can a square be movable?
Despite its external static nature, this painting is considered one of the most dynamic in the history of the Russian avant-garde.
According to the artist, the black square symbolizes pure form, and the white background symbolizes endless space. Malevich used the adjective “dynamic” to show that this form is in space. It's like a planet in the universe.
So the background and form are inseparable from each other: Malevich wrote that “the most important thing in Suprematism is two foundations - the energy of black and white, which serve to reveal the form of action.” (Malevich K. Collected works in 5 volumes. M., 1995. Volume 1. P. 187)
9. Why does “Black Square” have two dates of creation?
The canvas was created in 1915, although the author himself wrote 1913 on the reverse side. This was done, apparently, to bypass its competitors and assert primacy in the creation of Suprematist compositions. In fact, in 1913, the artist was designing the opera “Victory over the Sun,” and in his sketches, indeed, there was a black square as a symbol of this victory.
But the idea was realized in painting only in 1915. The painting was presented at the avant-garde exhibition “0, 10”, and the artist placed it in the red corner, a place where icons are usually hung in an Orthodox home. With this step, Malevich proclaimed the significance of the painting and was right: the painting became a turning point in the development of the avant-garde.
Photo taken at the exhibition “0, 10”. "Black square" hangs in the red corner
10. Why is there a “Black Square” in both the Hermitage and the Tretyakov Gallery?
Malevich addressed the theme of the square several times, since for him it is the most important Suprematist form, after which in order of importance come the circle and the cross.
There are four “Black Squares” in the world, but they are not complete copies of each other. They differ in size, proportions and time of creation.
"Black Square". 1923 Kept in the Russian Museum
The second “Black Square” was created in 1923 for the Venice Biennale. Then, in 1929, the artist created a third painting especially for his personal exhibition. It is believed that the director of the museum asked for it, because the original from 1915 was already covered with a network of cracks and craquelure. The artist did not like the idea, he refused, but then changed his mind. So there is one more square in the world.
"Black Square". 1929 Stored in the Tretyakov Gallery
The last repetition was presumably created in 1931. No one knew about the existence of the fourth option until in 1993 a certain citizen came to the Samara branch of Inkombank and left this painting as collateral. The mysterious painting lover was never seen again: he never returned for the canvas. The painting began to belong to the bank. But not for long: he went bankrupt in 1998. The painting was bought and transferred to the Hermitage for storage.
"Black Square". Early 1930s. Kept in the Hermitage
Thus, the first painting from 1915 and the third version from 1929 are kept in the Tretyakov Gallery, the second version in the Russian Museum, and the last in the Hermitage.
11. How did contemporaries react to “Black Square”?
If there is no longer any hope of understanding Malevich’s work, there is no need to be sad. Even the followers of the Russian avant-garde artist did not fully understand the artist’s deep intentions. The diaries of one of the master’s contemporaries, Vera Pestel, have survived to this day. She writes:
“Malevich simply painted a square and painted it completely pink paint, and another with black paint and then a lot more squares and triangles different colors. His room was elegant, all colorful, and it was nice for the eye to move from one color to another - all of different geometric shapes. How calm it was to look at the different squares, you didn’t think about anything, you didn’t want anything. Pink made me happy, and the black one next to me also made me happy. And we liked it. We also became suprematists.” (Malevich about himself. Contemporaries about Malevich. Letters. Documents. Memoirs. Criticism. In 2 volumes. M., 2004. Volume 1. P. 144-145)
This is the same as saying about still lifes of small Dutchmen - why think about it.
However, there are also more sensible comments. Despite the fact that not everyone understood the philosophical subtext of the painting, its significance was nevertheless appreciated. Andrei Bely said this about Suprematism:
“The history of painting and all these Vrubels in front of such squares are zero!” (Malevich about himself. Contemporaries about Malevich. Letters. Documents. Memoirs. Criticism. In 2 volumes. M., 2004. Volume 1. P. 108).
Alexandre Benois, founder of the World of Art movement, was extremely outraged by Malevich’s antics, but still understood the significance that the painting had acquired:
“A black square framed in white is the “icon” that gentlemen futurists offer in place of Madonnas and shameless Venuses. This is not a simple joke, not a simple challenge, but this is one of the acts of self-affirmation of that principle, which has its name in the abomination of desolation...” (Benoit A. The last futurist exhibition. From “Malevich about himself...” T.2. P.524)
In general, the painting made a double impression on the artist’s contemporaries.
12. Why can’t I draw “Black Square” and become famous?
You can draw, but you won’t be able to become famous. The meaning of modern art is not only to create something completely new, but also to present it correctly.
For example, black squares were painted before Malevich. In 1882, Paul Bealhold created a painting with the politically incorrect title “Night Fight of Negroes in the Basement.” Even earlier, in the 17th century, English artist Flood painted The Great Darkness. But it was the Russian avant-garde artist who designated the painting new philosophy and operated it for several decades. Can you do this? Then go ahead.
Robert Flood "The Great Darkness" 1617
Paul Bealhold "Night Night Fight of Negroes in the Basement." 1882
The most important property of our eye is its ability to distinguish colors. One of the properties related to color vision can be considered the phenomenon of a shift in the maximum relative visibility during the transition from daylight to twilight vision.
In twilight vision (low light levels), not only does the sensitivity of the eye to the perception of colors in general decrease, but also under these conditions the eye has a decreased sensitivity to the colors of the long-wavelength part of the visible spectrum (red, orange) and increased sensitivity to the colors of the short-wavelength part of the spectrum (blue, violet) .
We can point out a number of cases where, when looking at colored objects, we also encounter visual errors or illusions.
Firstly, sometimes we mistakenly judge the color saturation of an object by the brightness of the background or by the color of other objects surrounding it. In this case, the laws of brightness contrast also apply: the color brightens on a dark background and darkens on a light one.
Great artist And scientist Leonardo da Vinci wrote: “Of colors of equal whiteness, the one that appears lighter will appear against a darker background, and black will appear gloomier against a background of greater whiteness. And red will appear more fiery against a darker background, as well as all colors surrounded by their own.” direct opposites."
Secondly, there is the concept of actual color or chromatic contrasts, when the color of the object we observe changes depending on the background against which we observe it. There are many examples of the effects of color contrasts on the eye. Goethe, for example, writes: “The grass growing in a courtyard paved with gray limestone appears to be an infinitely beautiful green color when the evening clouds cast a reddish, barely noticeable glow on the stones.” The additional color of dawn is green; this contrast green mingling with green herbs and gives an “infinitely beautiful green color.”
Goethe also describes the phenomenon of so-called “colored shadows”. "One of the most beautiful cases of colored shadows can be observed during the full moon. Candlelight and moonlight can be completely equalized in intensity. Both shadows can be made to be of equal strength and clarity, so that the two colors are perfectly balanced. Place the screen so that the light full moon fell directly on him, the candle is placed somewhat to the side at the proper distance; Some transparent body is held in front of the screen. Then a double shadow appears, and the one cast by the moon and which is at the same time illuminated by the candle appears to be of a pronounced reddish-dark color, and, conversely, the one cast by the candle but illuminated by the moon appears to be of the most beautiful blue color. Where both shadows meet and combine into one, the result is a black shadow."
Illusions associated with the structural features of the eye.
Look at the picture (below) close to the right edge of the monitor
Blind spot.
The presence of a blind spot on the retina of the eye was first discovered in 1668 by the famous French physicist E. Mariotte. Marriott describes his experience in verifying the presence of a blind spot as follows:
“I attached a small circle of white paper on a dark background, approximately at eye level, and at the same time asked to hold another circle to the side of the first, to the right at a distance of about two feet), but somewhat lower so that its image fell on the optic nerve of my I closed my right eye, while I closed my left one. I stood opposite the first circle and gradually moved away, keeping my right eye on it. When I was 9 feet away, the second circle, which was about 4 inches in size, completely disappeared from my field of vision. I could attribute this to his lateral position, for I could distinguish other objects that were even more to the side than he was; I would have thought that it had been removed if I had not found it again at the slightest movement of my eyes.”
It is known that Marriott amused the English king Charles II and his courtiers by teaching them to see each other without heads. The retina of the eye, where the optic nerve enters the eye, does not have the light-sensitive endings of nerve fibers (rods and cones). Consequently, images of objects falling on this place of the retina are not transmitted to the brain.
Here's more interesting example. In fact, the circle is perfectly smooth. We need to squint and we see it.
Optical effect of color.
This effect includes illusions or optical phenomena caused by color and changing appearance items. Considering the optical phenomena of color, all colors can be divided into two groups: red and blue, because Basically, colors in their optical properties will gravitate towards one of these groups. The exception is green. Light colors, such as white or yellow, create an irradiation effect; they seem to spread to the objects located next to them. dark colors and reduce surfaces painted in these colors. For example, if a ray of light penetrates through a crack in a plank wall, the crack appears wider than it actually is. When the sun shines through the branches of trees, the branches appear thinner than usual.
This phenomenon plays significant role when designing fonts. While, for example, the letters E and F retain their full height, the height of letters such as O and G are somewhat reduced, further reduced by the sharp ends of the letters A and V. These letters appear lower than the overall height of the line. So that they appear to be the same height as the rest of the letters of the line, when marking them, they are moved slightly up or down beyond the aisles of the line. The irradiation effect also explains the different impressions of surfaces covered with transverse or longitudinal stripes. A field with transverse stripes appears lower than a field with longitudinal stripes, since the white color surrounding the field penetrates at the top and bottom between the stripes and visually reduces the height of the field.
Main optical features of the red and blue color groups.
Yellow visually, as it were, lifts the surface. It also seems more extensive due to the irradiation effect. The red color is approaching us, blue, on the contrary, is moving away. The planes, painted in dark blue, purple and black, visually decrease in size and move downwards.
Green- the most calm of all colors.
It is also necessary to note the centrifugal movement yellow and centripetal blue.
The first color pricks the eyes, the second color drowns the eye. This effect increases if we add to it the difference in lightness and darkness, i.e. the effect of yellow will increase when added to it white, blue - when darkened with black.
Academician S.I. Vavilov writes about the structure of the eye: “How simple is the optical part of the eye, so complex is its perceptive mechanism. Not only do we not know the physiological meaning of individual elements of the retina, but we are not able to say how appropriate the spatial distribution of light-sensitive cells is to what needs a blind spot, etc. What we have before us is not an artificial physical device, but a living organ in which advantages are mixed with disadvantages, but everything is inextricably linked into a living whole.”
A blind spot, it would seem, should prevent us from seeing the entire object, but under normal conditions we do not notice this.
Firstly, because the images of objects falling on the blind spot in one eye are not projected onto the blind spot in the other; secondly, because the falling out parts of objects are involuntarily filled with images of neighboring parts that are in the field of view. If, for example, when examining black horizontal lines, some areas of the image of these lines on the retina of one eye fall on a blind spot, then we will not see a break in these lines, since our other eye will compensate for the shortcomings of the first. Even when observing with one eye, our mind compensates for the deficiency of the retina and the disappearance of some details of objects from the field of vision does not reach our consciousness.
The blind spot is quite large (at a distance of two meters from the observer, even a person’s face can disappear from the field of view), however, under normal vision conditions, the mobility of our eyes eliminates this “disadvantage” of the retina.
Irradiation
The phenomenon of irradiation is that light objects against a dark background seem enlarged compared to their actual size and seem to capture part of the dark background. This phenomenon has been known since very ancient times. Also Vitruvius (1st century BC), architect and engineer Ancient Rome, in his writings indicated that when dark and light are combined, “light devours darkness.” On our retina, light partially captures the space occupied by shadow. The initial explanation for the phenomenon of irradiation was given by R. Descartes, who argued that an increase in the size of light objects occurs as a result of the spread of physiological excitation to places adjacent to the directly irritated area of the retina.
However, this explanation is currently being replaced by a new, more strict one, formulated by Helmholtz, according to which the following circumstances are the root cause of irradiation. Each luminous point is depicted on the retina of the eye in the form of a small circle of scattering due to the imperfection of the lens (aberration, from Latin - deviation), inaccurate accommodation, etc. When we look at a light surface on a dark background, due to aberration scattering, the boundaries seem to expand this surface, and the surface seems to us larger than its true geometric dimensions; it seems to extend across the edges of the dark background surrounding it.
The effect of irradiation is more pronounced the worse the eye is accommodated. Due to the presence of light scattering circles on the retina, illusory exaggeration may occur when known conditions(for example, very thin black threads) dark objects on a light background are also subject to - this is the so-called negative irradiation. There are a lot of examples when we can observe the phenomenon of irradiation; it is not possible to give them in full here.
Great Italian artist, scientist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci in his notes says the following about the phenomenon of irradiation: “When the Sun is visible behind leafless trees, all their branches located opposite the solar body are so reduced that they become invisible, the same will happen with the shaft, placed between the eye and solar body. I saw a woman dressed in black with a white bandage on her head, the latter appearing to be twice the width of the woman's shoulders, who were dressed in black. If you look at the battlements of the fortresses from a great distance, separated from each other by gaps equal to the width of these battlements, then the gaps seem much larger than the battlements..."
The great German poet Goethe points out a number of cases of observations of the phenomenon of irradiation in nature in his treatise “The Doctrine of Colors”. He writes about this phenomenon as follows: “A dark object seems smaller than a light one of the same size. If we simultaneously consider a white circle on a black background and a black circle of the same diameter on a white background, then the latter seems to us to be approximately 1/2 smaller than the first. If the black circle is made correspondingly larger, they will appear equal. The young crescent moon appears to belong to a circle of a larger diameter than the rest of the dark part of the moon, which is sometimes visible."
The phenomenon of irradiation at astronomical observations interferes with observing thin black lines on objects of observation; V similar cases you have to aperture the telescope lens. Physicists, due to the phenomenon of irradiation, do not see the thin peripheral rings of the diffraction pattern. People appear thinner in a dark dress than in a light one. Light sources visible from behind the edge produce an apparent cutout in it. The ruler, from behind which the candle flame appears, is represented with a notch in this place. The rising and setting sun makes a hole in the horizon.
A few more examples.
The black thread, if held in front of a bright flame, seems to be broken at this point; the hot filament of an incandescent lamp seems thicker than it actually is; Light wire on a dark background appears thicker than on a light one. The sashes in the window frames appear smaller than they really are. A statue cast in bronze appears smaller than one made from plaster or white marble.
Architects Ancient Greece The corner columns of their buildings were made thicker than the others, taking into account that these columns from many points of view would be visible against the background of a bright sky and, due to the phenomenon of irradiation, would appear thinner. We are subjected to a kind of illusion in relation to the apparent size of the Sun. Artists, as a rule, paint the Sun as too large compared to other depicted objects. On the other hand, in photographic landscape photographs in which the Sun is depicted, it appears to us unnaturally small, although the lens gives a correct image of it.
Note that the phenomenon of negative irradiation can be observed in cases where a black thread or slightly shiny metal wire appears thicker on a white background than on a black or gray one. If, for example, a lacemaker wants to show off her art, then it is better for her to make lace from black threads and spread it on a white lining. If we observe wires against a background of parallel dark lines, such as a tile roof or brickwork, the wires appear thickened and broken where they intersect each of the dark lines.
These effects are also observed when the wires are superimposed in the field of view on a clear outline of the building. Probably, the phenomenon of irradiation is associated not only with the aberration properties of the lens, but also with the scattering and refraction of light in the media of the eye (the layer of liquid between the eyelid and the cornea, the media filling the anterior chamber and the entire inside of the eye). Therefore, the irradiation properties of the eye are obviously related to its resolving power and radiant perception of “point” light sources. The ability of the eye to overestimate sharp angles is associated with aberration properties, and therefore partly with the phenomenon of irradiation.
Astigmatism of the eye.
Astigmatism of the eye is a defect of the eye, usually caused by the non-spherical (toric) shape of the cornea and sometimes the non-spherical shape of the surfaces of the lens. Astigmatism human eye was first discovered in 1801 by the English physicist T. Young. In the presence of this defect (by the way, not all people manifest it in a sharp form), point focusing of rays falling parallel to the eye does not occur due to different refraction of light by the cornea in different sections. Severe astigmatism is corrected by glasses with cylindrical glasses, which refract light rays only in the direction perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder.
Eyes completely free from this defect are rare in people, as can be easily seen. To test the eyes for astigmatism, ophthalmologists often use a special table, where twelve circles have shading of equal thickness at equal intervals. An eye with astigmatism will see the lines of one or more circles blacker. The direction of these blacker lines allows us to draw a conclusion about the nature of the astigmatism of the eye.
If astigmatism is due to the non-spherical shape of the lens surface, then when moving from clear vision of horizontal objects to viewing vertical objects, a person must change the accommodation of the eyes. Most often, the distance of clear vision of vertical objects is less than horizontal ones.