Friday, March 13, 2009

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.

14 comments:

Antropóloga said...

I've tried and tried but don't see eyes!

Monica H said...

Deep end? maybe :-)

I don't see anything. But I tried, I really did.

thordora said...

I don't like you anymore. And I'm sending Where's Waldo and Magic Eye books to you, just to torture you.

That platter? SHUDDER.

Meim said...

Thanks a lot Niobe, I just spent the last 2 hours of my life searching (to no avail might I add) for a mallet in a toy store.

Great! There goes my Saturday! ;)

Angela said...

I see them! Do you think that was on purpose?

Azaera said...

That's truly disturbing, thank you for the nightmares.

flutter said...

ok why couldn't I have seen this BEFORE I went to the shrink? I really don't want to have to call him, crying.

DAMN!

Anonymous said...

Just up my street this, anything to do with art.

I did see some, though they didn't creep me out much but then I love all ghosty things and films and whatnot, which also says a lot about my mind as much as yours :)

That was fun, got anymore?

xxx

niobe said...

Angela: I think it was definitely on purpose. The artist's name means "owl" in Dutch and he's well known for including hidden pictures of owls in each of his paintings. There are several in this picture -- including one on the tablecloth on the right side, near the small glass.

When I first saw this painting, like some of the commenters, I couldn't see the eyes. But after a while....

Anonymous said...

Well i could see 2 and that was it! Its kinda yuk if you ask me but then i HATE eyes.

Oh and it had to of been on purpose. You just couldnt have that happen by mistake.

Imagine going to bed with the artist each night.

Hugs
xxx

Jacinta said...

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=ng1314

Here is another one for you, albeit better known.

Anonymous said...

I was never any good at these types of things. I never found Waldo or saw the real picture in those pictures that just looked like a bunch of colors. I saw a couple of the eyes in this one, but not many. I looked hard and zoomed, but perhaps that part of my brain doesn't work well.

Magpie said...

Weird. I'm not very good at finding them, but weird...

The Mama said...

I see them! EEK! That is too weird!!!

Thanks for the idea about the eye....everyone seems to love it!!!

http://motheringmymiraclemultiples.wordpress.com

~Kari