Illusion

DEFINITION

A deceptive or misleading image or idea.An example: Maurits Cornelis Escher (Dutch, 1898-1972), Balcony, 1945, lithograph, 11 3/4 x 9 1/4 inches (29.7 x 23.4 cm), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. In the center of this picture of a hillside town, Escher said he tried to break up the paper's flatness by "pretend[ing] to give it a blow with my fist at the back, but . . . the paper remains flat, and I have only created the illusion of an illusion." See optical illusion.Quote: "Anyone who can handle a needle convincingly can make us see a thread which is not there." E. H. Gombrich (1909-), British art critic and art historian. See craftsmanship and technique. Also see appearance, copy, counterfeit, fake, forgery, irony, likeness, magic lantern, mirror, perspective, push and pull, realism, reflection, reification, representation, simulacrum, simulation, theater, trompe l'oeil, truth, verisimilitude, virtual, and virtual reality.