How this image is not a painting by French artist René Magritte is beyond us. It is divinely enchanting, mysteriously lovely, and it questions reality. That is a dock, and it is floating in the sky. The peaceful grassy bank is an ideal place to spend the day.
But truly, what a lake! The water is so still that it reflects the sky just like a mirror. It almost makes you think the image is about to zoom out at any minute and reveal the Dreamworks logo animation with that man fishing on the moon. It’s prettier than life itself.
A Real Illusion With a Scientific Explanation
This is an actual photo of a boat that seems to be floating in the air. The image was not tweaked with photoshopping, and it was not taken from a strange angle in order to create the illusion. It even has a name. It’s called the Fata Morgana, named after the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay. Italian shipman superstitiously believed it was she who lured sailors to their deaths by tricking them with a mirage of land.
Fata Morgana is a rare phenomenon that occurs when there is an inversion layer. Warm air is usually nearest to the Earth. When it inverts and colder air is close to the sea, it causes the atmospheric illusion. It’s rare because when the inversion layers occur, wind generally mixes the air, and no effect is noticed.
Hall of Confusion
Anyone susceptible to motion sickness may want to steer clear of this hallway! The walls and the floor appear to be curving in and bending out. It looks like the walls are draped with a fabric that has a lined pattern. But none of this is true.
What you are looking at is an installment from an artist’s exhibit. Austrian psychedelic artist Peter Kogler uses his art to create mind-bending spaces out of ordinary rooms. This particular work was on display in 2016 at the ING Art Center in Brussels. We just hope that this room is not a bathroom by chance, because people are going to have a hard time aiming like that.
A Movie Studio Building Façade?
This is the flattest building we have ever seen. It sticks into the air like a lost section of a 100-foot-high concrete wall. It looks like it’s the office building of someone from an episode of The Twilight Zone. It’s one confounding image.
How, then, is this building standing up? And why would anyone want to construct a building that is essentially one wall and nothing more? Well, the truth is, the building is a 3D structure just like any other building, except it’s triangular – with three sides. From another angle, you would see that it is a triangle-shaped building.
She’s Wearing No Pants!
Though to be fair, one needs to have legs in order to be following the social norm of wearing pants. It's a prerequisite. Wait a minute. Where are her legs? Has this woman found the secret to having one part of your body run errands for you as the other part is off at the races? Did she forget to disengage her invisibility power?
And why would she stay half-visible? Supernatural phenomena don’t usually happen in the light of day. See if you can figure this one out on your own. Once you see the placement of the jacket's hemline it becomes pretty obvious.