seeing things

If you have a few spare minutes, go back to this post and click through some of the links where people have posted close-ups of one of their eyes. There's something incredibly eerie and compelling about the set of photos -- as if all those people inside your computer are peering through your monitor, eyes pressed to keyholes.

And another thing. This is a little complicated, but, I promise you, it's worth it.

1. go to this site.

2. using the site search feature (at the top right of the screen), type in u.y.l (without the dots or italics, of course).

3. click on "collections"

4. choose the first item in the collections, a breakfast still life.

You'll see a painting that, at first glance, looks like a typical Dutch 17th century still life -- muted colors, almost photographic realism, the remains of a breakfast, a collection of precariously balanced glasses, cups and plates, abandoned at the table.

But keep looking and you'll starting seeing them. Hidden in the folds of the tablecloth, nestled in the bowl and base of the overturned golden goblet, staring from the bottom of the silver plate in the middle of the table, on the seemingly empty wall to the right, in the shadow of the niche, in the small glass of beer to the right and the larger, tilted glass to the left are dozens and dozens of staring eyes.

Some are huge, some so tiny that you'll need to use the zoom feature to see them. Once you start finding them, you can't stop.* And you'll imagine the painting hanging in a white-walled museum gallery, with hundreds of people looking at it every day and the painting staring back at them.

Basically, this is just about the most disturbing picture ever or I'm really and truly going off the deep end. And, yes, I'm aware that those two things aren't mutually exclusive.



*It's a little like the hidden pictures game in Highlights magazine. Which, come to think of it, kind of creeped me out too.


eta: For those of you having trouble seeing the eyes, try zooming in on the silver platter in the middle of the table. Right next to the upside down spoon is an eye.