20 Optical Illusions That Will Blow Your Mind

Published on August 20, 2025 by illusionist.info

Optical illusions are a fascinating window into the workings of our minds. They demonstrate the shortcuts and assumptions our brains make every second to interpret the world around us. This article presents 20 famous and powerful optical illusions that will challenge your sense of reality. For more on the science, check out our article on why your brain falls for illusions.

Famous Illusions of Size and Shape

1. The Müller-Lyer Illusion: Two lines of identical length appear to be different lengths.
2. The Ponzo Illusion: Two identical objects placed on converging lines appear to be different sizes.
3. The Ebbinghaus Illusion: A central circle appears to change size depending on the size of the circles surrounding it.
4. The Jastrow Illusion: Two identical curved shapes appear to be different sizes when placed next to each other.
5. The Ames Room: A specially constructed room that creates a powerful illusion of size distortion.

Mind-Bending Illusions of Motion

6. The Rotating Snakes Illusion: A static image of "snakes" appears to be constantly rotating.
7. The Phi Phenomenon: A series of still images viewed in quick succession creates the illusion of movement (the basis of all animation).
8. The Lilac Chaser: If you stare at the center of this illusion, you will see a green dot moving in a circle.
9. The Apparent Motion Quartet: Two dots flashing on and off can appear to be a single dot moving back and forth.

Illusions of Color and Contrast

10. The Checker Shadow Illusion: A square on a checkerboard appears to be a different color than it actually is due to a surrounding shadow.
11. The Dress: The infamous viral phenomenon where a dress appeared to be blue and black to some, and white and gold to others.
12. The Hermann Grid Illusion: Ghostlike grey blobs are perceived at the intersections of a white grid on a black background.
13. Benham's Top: A spinning top with a specific black and white pattern can cause people to see arcs of color.

Impossible Objects and Ambiguous Figures

14. The Necker Cube: A simple line drawing of a cube that can be perceived in two different orientations.
15. The Penrose Triangle: An "impossible object" that can be drawn but not constructed in three dimensions.
16. My Wife and My Mother-in-Law: A classic ambiguous image where you can see either a young woman or an old woman.
17. The Rabbit-Duck Illusion: An image that can be perceived as either a rabbit or a duck.

Other Amazing Illusions

18. The Kanizsa Triangle: A triangle is perceived even though it is not actually drawn.
19. The Thatcher Effect: An upside-down face with the eyes and mouth flipped right-side up looks normal, until you turn the whole image right-side up.
20. Pareidolia: The tendency to see faces or patterns in random objects, like seeing a face on the moon. Learn more in our article on the psychology of pareidolia.

These illusions remind us that what we see is not always what is there. Our brains construct our reality, and sometimes, they can be beautifully tricked.