What do you see in this portrait?

Everybody loves optical illusions in pictures. They’re just so fascinating! At first, you don’t know what you’re looking at, other than the one picture you’re seeing. Then, when you finally see it, you can’t unsee it anymore. It’s such a strange phenomenon, but a very fun one as well. And we’ve got an especially good one for you today…

We really couldn’t see it at first…

Postcard
The portrait above (the picture shows the same drawing twice) dates back to 1888, and it’s the very first drawing of its kind. Do you see it already? Then we salute you, because we couldn’t! This portrait made it into the world as a postcard for an organization called “The Anchor Buggy Company” in Germany. There wasn’t any mention of the optical illusion at first and people didn’t see it. The artist, British cartoonist W.E. Hill, knew exactly what he was drawing when he made the portrait, but he never meant for others to know about it too. But then, people caught on to it and Hill gained thousands of fans!

Young girl
Do you see a young girl looking away, or an old woman looking down? Hill named the picture “Young Girl Old Woman”, because those are the two different things you can spot in the portrait. Hill knew what he was drawing, but when he didn’t hear anything about it after the postcard began circulating, he just went on with his life and his career as a cartoonist. He probably had no idea that his portrait, and its secret illusion, would become very famous!

Video
We understand why people didn’t catch on to the optical illusion at first. It’s very hard to see! If you still can’t see it either, take a look at the video below; it shows a simpler version of the illusion. Prepare for your mind to be blown!

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Source: All cute all the time