Optical illusions are some of the most curious images out there. They challenge everything we give for granted when it comes to our vision and show us that there are always new things to see and experience.
When I was a kid, my parents bought me a subscription to Highlights, a magazine filled with puzzles, riddles, and visual challenges (or optical illusions). The latter have been getting pretty popular online for their ability to transcend languages and cultures. Images are a global way of communication, after all.
Optical illusions have left people pulling their hair out for generations, trying to find an object, shape, or pattern inside a picture. They are designed to trick the eye, especially our innate ability to draw conclusions quickly by scanning an image in seconds. The so-called “at first sight.”
The famous picture below has been circulating around the world since 1888. To give you some perspective, that was the year the renowned Detective Fiction writer Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago, Illinois. A whole 100 years before ex-president Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs.
Find the two figures in this picture
The oldest known form of this image is an 1888 German postcard. The organization behind it was “The Anchor Buggy Company.”
First, the company handed the postcards out with little warning of the hidden message. But the picture soon started raising eyebrows among the readers…
Can you see the two figures in this portrait?
The artist behind the illustration, William Ely Hill, a British cartoonist, published the image in Puck, an American humor magazine.
Thousands of fans
Months passed before the subscribers realized the cleverness of the picture, William continued his career as a cartoonist. But when the image gained some traction and the word spread, he quickly gained thousands of fans.
He called this illusion “My Wife and My Mother-in-Law,” and depicts a younger girl looking back and an older woman looking ahead.
This image was the first of its kind and withstood the test of time despite today’s fierce competition thanks to the internet. Millions of people, probably billions, have seen W. E. Hill’s illustration!
Take a look at the image above and see if you can see both the wife and the mother-in-law!
As mentioned above, you should see a young woman looking behind her, and an older lady looking ahead.
Can you see both? If you need help, check the video below!
Now press that SHARE button so your friends can see it as well!
