Anamorphic Illusion — A Hidden Image Revealed
The stretched green shape looks distorted, but in the cylindrical mirror it becomes a recognizable image.
This effect is called anamorphosis — a picture that appears correct only when viewed from a special angle or in a specially shaped mirror.
Artists and puzzle-makers have used anamorphosis for centuries to create secret images, visual surprises and optical illusions.
Look at the picture directly, then look at its reflection in the mirror. How does a distorted drawing turn into a frog?
Additional Information
Anamorphic art has been used since the Renaissance, most famously in a hidden skull painted into Hans Holbein’s “The Ambassadors.” Street artists still use the same trick today to paint 3D-looking chalk illusions on flat pavement.
Your brain does the “unwarping” here, not the picture — from the correct viewpoint, the distorted lines line up with how perspective naturally stretches things.