Black circle on a white background. Revealed the mystery of Malevich's painting "Black Square

The illusion of color and contrast

Look at the center of the picture.
At the intersection of all the white stripes, small black circles are visible. At the same time, if you focus on any of these intersections, then the circle disappears. The illusion is known as the Hering Grid.

See the chessboard with white and black squares?
Gray halves of black and white cells of the same shade. Gray color is perceived either as black or as white.

Pay attention to the shades of the circles.
Surrounded by green, gray appears lilac-pink, and surrounded by red, blue-greenish.

How many colors are used for this drawing?
Three: white, green and pink. The presence of different shades of green and red in the picture is just an illusion. Its occurrence depends on whether the green and pink squares are adjacent to each other, or there is also a white one between them.

Which circle is lighter?
Here the circles have exactly the same shade of gray. But when compared to the saturation of the background, they appear lighter or darker.

Look at these two squares. Which square is brighter?
The color of the figures appears brighter and more saturated when the figures are edged with black borders. In fact, both in one and in the other square, the colors are exactly the same.

Fix your eyes on the center of the picture.
Goering lattice. At the intersections of all the white stripes, with the exception of the intersection where you are fixing your eyes at the moment, small gray spots are visible. As you can imagine, they don't really exist.

Which half is more saturated?
The tone of the lower half seems more saturated, despite the absolute identity of the colors of both halves. The illusion arises from the presence of a white outline at the top of the drawing.

A well-known effect to physicists and physicians.
Mach bands. A smooth color transition is perceived as stripes. On the border of white, an even whiter stripe is visible, and on the border of black, an even blacker one. The reason for the emergence of this illusion is lateral inhibition in the retina, in other words, the features of the processes and structure of our eyes.

Look at the picture and pay attention to the red spots that appear at the intersection of the black lines.
The reason for the emergence of this illusion are, among other things, structural features of the retina.

Which part of the ring is darker?
Part of the ring on a white background appears darker. If you remove the pencil, then the illusion disappears. Try experimenting with real paper and a pencil.

Pay attention to the board.
It's hard to believe, but white cells in the shade and black in the light are the same color. At the same time, our brain does not perceive this. Our perception, according to a centuries-old habit, makes allowance for the shadow that the beam allegedly creates, and automatically sends signals to the brain to "lighten" the squares in the shadow in our minds to compare them with the colors in the rest of the space.

There are works of art that everyone knows. For the sake of these paintings, tourists stand in long lines in any weather, and then, getting inside, they simply take a selfie in front of them. However, if you ask a tourist who has strayed from the group why he is so eager to look at the masterpiece, he is unlikely to explain why he suffered, pushed and suffered with the focal length. Often the fact is that due to the constant informational noise around a particular work, its very essence is forgotten. Our task in the rubric "Great and incomprehensible" is to remember why everyone should go to the Hermitage, the Louvre and the Uffizi.

The first painting in our section was Kazimir Malevich's Black Square. It is perhaps the most famous and controversial work of Russian art, and at the same time the most recognizable in the West. So, in London there is now a large-scale exhibition dedicated to the artist's work. The main exhibit was, of course, the Black Square. It can even be argued that European critics associate Russian art not with Karl Bryullov and Ilya Repin, but with Malevich. At the same time, unfortunately, few visitors to the Tretyakov Gallery or the Hermitage can clearly say why this painting is so famous. Today we will try to fix it.

Kazimir Malevich (1879 - 1935) "Self-portrait". 1933

1. It's not"Black square", a"Black square on a white background"

And this is important. This fact is worth remembering, like the Pythagorean theorem: it is unlikely to be useful in life, but it is somehow indecent not to know it.

K.Malevich "Black square on a white background." 1915 Stored in the Tretyakov Gallery

2. It's not a square

At first, the artist called his painting "Quadrangular", which is confirmed by linear geometry: there are no right angles, the sides are not parallel to each other, and the lines themselves are uneven. Thus, he created a movable form. Although, of course, he knew how to use the ruler.

3. Why did Malevich draw a square?

In his memoirs, the artist writes that he did it unconsciously. However, the development of artistic thought can be traced in his paintings.

Malevich worked as a draftsman. It is not surprising that at first he was fascinated by cubism with its regular forms. For example, the picture of 1914 is “Composition with Mona Lisa”. Black and white rectangles already appear here.

Left - Kazimir Malevich "Composition with Mona Lisa". On the right - Leonardo da Vinci "Mona Lisa", she is "Gioconda"

Then, when creating scenery for the opera "Victory over the Sun", the idea of ​​a square as an independent element appeared. However, the painting "Black Square" appeared only two years later.

4. Why a square?

Malevich believed that the square is the basis of all forms. If you follow the logic of the artist, the circle and the cross are already secondary elements: the rotation of the square forms a circle, and the movement of white and black planes - a cross.

The paintings "Black Circle" and "Black Cross" were painted simultaneously with the "Black Square". All together they formed the basis of a new artistic system, but the dominance was always behind the square.

"Black Square" - "Black Circle" - "Black Cross"

5. Why is the square black?

For Malevich, black is a mixture of all existing colors, while white is the absence of any color. Although, this is completely contrary to the laws of optics. Everyone remembers how they told at school that black absorbs the rest, and white connects the entire spectrum. And then we did experiments with lenses, looking at the resulting rainbow. But with Malevich, the opposite is true.

6. What is Suprematism and how to understand it?

Malevich founded a new direction in art in the mid-1910s. He called it Suprematism, which means "the highest" in Latin. That is, in his opinion, this trend should have become the pinnacle of all creative searches for artists.

Suprematism is easy to recognize: various geometric shapes are combined into one dynamic, usually asymmetrical composition.

K.Malevich "Suprematism". 1916
An example of one of the artist's many Suprematist compositions.

What does it mean? Such forms are usually perceived by the viewer as children's multi-colored cubes scattered across the floor. Agree, you can not draw the same trees and houses for two thousand years. Art must find new forms of expression. And they are not always clear to ordinary people. For example, the canvases of the Little Dutchmen were once revolutionary and deeply conceptual. Life philosophy was displayed through objects on still lifes. However, now they are perceived rather as beautiful pictures, the modern viewer simply does not think about the deep meaning of the works.

Jan Davidsz de Heem "Breakfast with fruit and lobster". Second quarter of the 17th century.
Each element in Dutch still lifes has a certain symbolic meaning. For example, lemon is a symbol of moderation.

This coherent system collapses upon acquaintance with the paintings of the avant-garde artists. The system "beautiful - not beautiful", "realistic - not realistic" does not work here. The viewer has to think what these strange lines and circles on the canvas can mean. Although, in fact, there is no less sense in lemons in Dutch still lifes, just museum visitors are not forced to solve it. In the paintings of the 20th century, one must immediately understand the idea of ​​a work of art, which is much more difficult.

7. Was it only Malevich who was so smart?

Malevich was not the first artist to create such paintings. Many masters of France, England and Russia were close to comprehending non-objective art. So, Mondrian created geometric compositions in 1913-1914, and the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint painted the so-called color diagrams.

Hilma af Klint. From the SUW series (Stars and the Universe). 1914 - 1915 years.

However, it was from Malevich that geometry acquired a clear philosophical connotation. His idea clearly followed from the previous artistic trend - cubism, where objects are divided into geometric shapes, and each of them is painted separately. In Suprematism, they stopped depicting the original form, the artists switched to pure geometry.

Pablo Picasso "Three Women" 1908
example of cubism. Here the artist still does not abandon the prototype form - the human body. The figures look like the work of a sculptor-carpenter, who seems to have created his work with an axe. Each "slice" of the sculpture is painted over with a shade of red and does not go beyond the boundaries.

8. How can a square be movable?

Despite the outward static character, this picture is considered one of the most dynamic in the history of the Russian avant-garde.

As conceived by the artist, the black square symbolizes pure form, while the white background symbolizes infinite space. Malevich used the adjective "dynamic" to show that this form is in space. It's like a planet in the universe.

So the background and form are inseparable from each other: Malevich wrote that "the most important thing in Suprematism is two foundations - the energy of black and white, which serve to reveal the form of action." (Malevich K. Collected works in 5 volumes. M., 1995. Volume 1. P. 187)

9. Why does Black Square have two creation dates?

The canvas was created in 1915, although the author himself wrote 1913 on the reverse side. This was done, apparently, in order to get around their competitors and assert the primacy in the creation of the Suprematist composition. In fact, in 1913 the artist was engaged in the design of the opera "Victory over the Sun", and in his sketches, indeed, there was a black square as a symbol of this victory.

But in painting, the idea was embodied only in 1915. The painting was presented at the avant-garde exhibition "0, 10", and the artist placed it in the red corner, the place where icons usually hang in an Orthodox house. With this step, Malevich proclaimed the significance of the canvas and turned out to be right: the painting became a turning point in the development of the avant-garde.

Photo taken at the exhibition "0, 10". "Black Square" hangs in the red corner

10. Why is there a "Black Square" in both the Hermitage and the Tretyakov Gallery?

Malevich several times addressed the theme of the square, since for him it is the most important Suprematist form, after which, in order of importance, come the circle and the cross.

There are four "Black Squares" in the world, but they are not complete copies of each other. They differ in size, proportions and time of creation.

"Black square". 1923 Stored in the Russian Museum

The second "Black Square" was created in 1923 for the Venice Biennale. Then, in 1929, especially for his solo exhibition, the artist creates a third painting. It is believed that the director of the museum asked for it, because the original of 1915 had already been covered with a network of cracks, craquelure. The artist did not like the idea, he refused, but then changed his mind. So the world has become one square more.

"Black square". 1929 Stored in the Tretyakov Gallery

The last repetition was supposedly created in 1931. No one knew about the existence of the fourth option, until in 1993 a certain citizen came to the Samara branch of Inkombank and left this picture on bail. The mysterious lover of painting was never seen again: he never returned for the canvas. The painting became owned by the bank. But not for long: he went bankrupt in 1998. The painting was bought and transferred to the Hermitage for safekeeping.

"Black square". Early 1930s. Stored in the Hermitage

So, the first painting of 1915 and the third version of 1929 are kept in the Tretyakov Gallery, the second version is in the Russian Museum, and the last one is in the Hermitage.

11. How did contemporaries react to the "Black Square"?

If there is no longer any hope for understanding Malevich's work, do not be sad. Even the followers of the Russian avant-garde artist did not fully understand the deep intention of the artist. The diaries of one of the master's contemporaries, Vera Pestel, have survived to our time. She writes:

“Malevich simply painted a square and painted it all over with pink paint, and with another black paint, and then many more squares and triangles of different colors. His room was smart, all motley, and it was good for the eye to move from one color to another - all of different geometric shapes. How calm it was to look at different squares, nothing was thought, nothing was wanted. The pink color was pleasing, and next to it, black was also pleasing. And we liked it. We also became Suprematists.” (Malevich about himself. Contemporaries about Malevich. Letters. Documents. Memoirs. Criticism. In 2 volumes. M., 2004. Volume 1. P. 144-145)

It's like saying about the still lifes of the small Dutch - why think about it.

However, there are more insightful remarks. Despite the fact that not everyone understood the philosophical subtext of the canvas, its significance was nevertheless appreciated. Andrei Bely said this about Suprematism:

“The history of painting and all these Vrubels in front of such squares is zero!” (Malevich about himself. Contemporaries about Malevich. Letters. Documents. Memoirs. Criticism. In 2 volumes. M., 2004. Volume 1. P. 108).

Alexander Benois, the founder of the World of Art movement, was extremely outraged by Malevich's antics, but he still understood the significance that the painting had acquired:

“The black square in a white frame is the “icon” that the futurists offer instead of Madonnas and shameless Venuses. This is not a simple joke, not a simple challenge, but this is one of the acts of self-affirmation of that beginning, which has its name in the abomination of desolation ... ". (Benoit A. The last futuristic exhibition. From "Malevich about himself ...". V.2. P.524)

In general, the picture made a double impression on the artist's contemporaries.

12. Why can't I draw Black Square and become famous?

You can draw, but you won't be able to become famous. The meaning of contemporary art is not only to create something completely new, but also to present it correctly.

For example, black squares were painted even before Malevich. In 1882, Paul Bielhold created a painting with the politically incorrect title "The Night Fight of the Negroes in the Basement." Even earlier, in the 17th century, the English artist Flood painted The Great Darkness. But it was the Russian avant-garde artist who marked the new philosophy with a picture and exploited it for several decades. Can you do that? Then go ahead.

Robert Flood "The Great Darkness" 1617.

Paul Bielhold "Negro Night Fight in the Basement". 1882

What attracts Malevich's primitive Suprematism? Precisely by the fact that it is primitive to disgrace. An elementary, simplest image is capable of giving rise to its own versions, guesses and additions in the viewer with a minimum of imagination. This also applies to the "Black Circle", which is no less interesting than its square counterpart, but for me it's more so.

Everyone knows Kazimir Malevich's black square. And what is his "Black Circle"?
Malevich wrote the second version of this ingenious, most complex work (as well as the 2nd version of the Black Square) with the help of his students A. Leporskaya, K. Rozhdestvensky and N. Suetin. He wouldn't be able to do it alone. Apparently, Rozhdestvensky was stretching the stretcher, Leporskaya was priming the canvas, and Suetin got hold of a compass. Malevich had only to take black paint and work as a house painter for about five minutes. The first version was written eight years earlier, but the circle then came out crooked, apparently Malevich did not have a compass yet, so he had to cover the canvas with a copper basin and somehow circle it around the edge.

What is this piece about? It's hard to believe, but nevertheless, it is... about a black circle! It was not difficult for Malevich to present the concept of the work; he was an unsurpassed master of spreading noodles. Everyone will be able to draw geometric figures, only a few will be able to present them as something outstanding.

Malevich was born on February 23, which every year overshadows the day of the Soviet Army, due to his evasion from military duty. He died on May 15, which every year overshadows my and Mikhail Bulgakov's birthday. In total, he lived only 56 years, not having time to depict all the options for geometric shapes. Specifically, it has a black square on a white background, a white square on a white background, a black circle on a white background... but no "Black Circle on Black Background"! And I decided to fill this gap (if you can call this mob a gap). He is in front of you.

"Do you see the gopher? And I don't. But he is!" (Hera Lieberman) See the black circle? And I don't see. But he is. And a meticulous viewer will notice this. This is the whole point of the picture, that is, not everything that you do not see is not. Another name is "A Black Hole in a Black Square, or Activated Coal in the Ass of an African American Sitting in a Dark Cave on a Moonless Night". Is the name politically correct? Quite. But the novel "Ten Little Indians" is racist, it should be renamed "Ten African American Kids."

I don’t know about the rest, but I’m terribly bored to contemplate these “masterpieces” by Malevich, so I’m exhibiting my variations of the Black Circle. How to "revive" the black circle with minimal means, to make non-objective painting objective? Here are some examples. Here, lengthy conceptual explanations are not required, everything is as clear as a white night in St. Petersburg. Far from every spectator's imagination is limitless, and when looking at Malevich's masterpieces, many of them do not come up with a single image. So I decided to help such a viewer looking at a black circle.

"Black balloon". I don't remember if there are black balloons? Well, for example, at a gathering of Goths, or at an oilman’s holiday, or you can tie it to a hearse so that it’s not so gloomy ...

And this is a paradoxical version of the black ball: "Black Kettle". It is heavy and at the same time weightless, it soars. But if the thread breaks - then scatter in all directions!

"Rockfall or Rolling Stones". Malevich's painting is untouched, but the image of a flying stone is there.

"Black smiley". Malevich was one step away from the invention of emoticons. At least black ones.

"Malevich's Clock". There may be more options here, but many have probably already been used in watch design.

"Sewerage". And I remember that Malevich argued that he depicted the depths of the universe. Is that the sewer is also a kind of universe of the deep worlds.

"Black Moon". Used a real photo of the moon in the negative. Reminiscent of outlandish, decorative flowers in the manner of M. Vrubel; there is something to look at, unlike the original.

"Black Malevich under pink Picasso". This refers to the pink period of Pablo Picasso's work. "The Girl on the Ball" was written ten years earlier than Malevich's "ball", possibly influencing the latter.

"Nucleus". If you remove the cannon, it will pass for a throwing projectile of an athlete, both as a core and as a disk.

Before you is the Suprematist composition "Four white circles on a black circle in a white square". However, if you have a white shirt with black buttons, you can see many copies of this composition for at least hours.

Similar to the previous one, "White circle on a black circle on a white square". Suprematism at its finest! Write it to Malevich - it would be a masterpiece for the ages! If not for one circumstance - this masterpiece is now posted everywhere, at any first tire fitting. It's a pity, such a beautiful, elegant name, not like the stupid "Tire Service"!

"Black target". With this version of the "Black Circle" any military man will stand much longer, not to mention biathletes. And if a place for a small shooting gallery is fenced off near the picture, then the profit from viewing such a "malevich" will increase greatly.

And this composition is called "Crisis". It's already hovering and ready to explode. A crisis is never white or pink, it is always black.

How to get rid of the crisis? It's pretty simple. The crisis needs to be flipped and bitten off. Let's add a leaf - and now we are not facing a crisis, but an elegant, expensive device from Apple. Now the main thing is not to turn it back, otherwise the crisis will return, but already broken out!

"Weapon of the proletariat". Composition of Suprematist symbolism. The circle, acquiring the serration of a gear, symbolizes mechanical engineering and the sun of Soviet industry. Another object symbolizes the tool, the key of the worker, at the same time resembling the crosshairs of the hammer and sickle - the weapon of the worker and the collective farmer. If only Malevich had depicted such a picture in time, the coat of arms of the USSR would undoubtedly have looked different. Perhaps it would look like that, one to one. Well, for those snickering bourgeois who do not like the symbols of the Soviet proletarian, there is a simpler name: "Beer".

"Kutuzov Suprematist. Portrait of a Field Marshal". Someone will say: this is not a portrait - where is Kutuzov himself? I will answer: firstly, the bandage is on the right missing eye of Kutuzov. Secondly, every second viewer will catch the connection with Kutuzov, which means that the portrait is quite similar.

A minimum of actions with the previous picture - and we already have scrambled eggs for breakfast. Let's call it "fried eggs Kutuzov". If the classic fried egg has both "eyes", then the Kutuzov fried egg is necessarily prepared from one egg! Scientifically speaking: monoovary. For those on a diet.

"Sisyphus". Well, many people know this. This is such a hefty, but stupid ancient Greek who did not guess to use the lever. The ancient Greek shamefully did not justify the proverb "there is strength - the mind is not needed."

The most important property of our eye is its ability to distinguish colors. One of the properties related to color vision can be considered the phenomenon of shifting the maximum of relative visibility during the transition from daytime to twilight vision.

With twilight vision (low illumination), not only the sensitivity of the eye to the perception of colors in general decreases, but even under these conditions the eye has a reduced sensitivity to colors of the long-wavelength part of the visible spectrum (red, orange) and an increased sensitivity to colors of the short-wavelength part of the spectrum (blue, violet) .

We can point to a number of cases when we also encounter visual errors or illusions when looking at colored objects.

First, sometimes we mistakenly judge the color saturation of an object by the brightness of the background or by the color of other objects surrounding it. In this case, the laws of brightness contrast also apply: the color brightens on a dark background and darkens on a light one.
The great artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci wrote: “From colors of equal whiteness, that one seems lighter, which will be on a darker background, and black will seem more gloomy against a background of greater whiteness. And red will seem more fiery on a darker background, as well as all colors surrounded by their direct opposites."

Secondly, there is the concept of actual color or chromatic contrasts, when the color of the object we observe changes depending on the background against which we observe it. There are many examples of the effect of color contrasts on the eye. Goethe, for example, writes: "The grass growing in a courtyard paved with gray limestone seems to be of an infinitely beautiful green color when the evening clouds throw a reddish, barely noticeable reflection on the stones." The complementary color of dawn is green; this contrasting green, when mixed with the green of the grass, produces "infinitely beautiful green".

Goethe also describes the phenomenon of so-called "colored shadows". "One of the most beautiful cases of colored shadows can be observed on a full moon. Candlelight and moonlight can be completely equalized in intensity. Both shadows can be made of the same strength and clarity, so that both colors will be completely balanced. Set the screen so that the light is full the moon falls directly on it, the candle is placed somewhat to the side at a proper distance, some transparent body is held in front of the screen, then a double shadow appears, and the one cast by the moon and which at the same time illuminates the candle seems to be a pronounced reddish-dark colors, and, conversely, the one that the candle casts, but illuminates the moon - the most beautiful blue color. Where both shadows meet and merge into one, a black shadow is obtained. "

Illusions associated with the structural features of the eye.

Look at the picture (below) close to the right edge of the monitor

Blind spot.

The presence of a blind spot on the retina of the eye was first discovered in 1668 by the famous French physicist E. Mariotte. Marriott describes his experience in making sure that there is a blind spot as follows:

“I attached a small circle of white paper on a dark background, approximately at eye level, and at the same time asked the other circle to be held to the side of the first, to the right at a distance of about two feet), but somewhat lower so that its image fell on the optic nerve of my right eye, while I close my left. I stood opposite the first circle and gradually moved away, keeping my right eye on it. When I was at a distance of 9 feet, the second circle, which had a size of about 4 inches, completely disappeared from view. I did not I could attribute this to its lateral position, for I distinguished other objects that were even more lateral than he; I would have thought that it had been removed if I had not found it again with the slightest movement of the eyes.

It is known that Marriott amused the English king Charles II and his courtiers by teaching them to see each other without a head. The retina of the eye in the place where the optic nerve enters the eye does not have light-sensitive endings of nerve fibers (rods and cones). Consequently, the images of objects falling on this place of the retina are not transmitted to the brain.

Here's another interesting example. In fact, the circle is perfectly even. It is worth squinting and we see it.

The optical effect of color.

This effect includes illusions or optical phenomena caused by color and changing the appearance of objects. Considering the optical phenomena of color, all colors can be divided into two groups: red and blue, because in general, colors in their optical properties will gravitate towards one of these groups. The exception is green. Light colors, such as white or yellow, create an irradiation effect, as if they spread to the darker colors located next to them and reduce the surfaces painted in these colors. For example, if a ray of light penetrates through a crack in a plank wall, the crack appears wider than it actually is. When the sun shines through the branches of trees, the branches appear thinner than usual.

This phenomenon plays an essential role in the design of fonts. While, for example, the letters E and F retain their full height, the height of letters such as O and G is reduced somewhat, further reduced by the sharp ends of the letters A and V. These letters appear below the overall line height. So that they seem to be of the same height with the rest of the letters of the line, they are already taken out slightly up or down outside the line when marking. The effect of irradiation also explains the different impression of surfaces covered with transverse or longitudinal stripes. A field with transverse stripes seems to be lower than a field with longitudinal ones, since the white color surrounding the field penetrates above and below between the stripes and visually reduces the height of the field.

The main optical features of the red and blue color groups.

Yellow visually raises the surface. It also seems to be more extensive due to the effect of irradiation. Red color is approaching us, blue, on the contrary, is moving away. The planes, painted in dark blue, purple and black, visually decrease and rush downwards.

Green color- the most calm of all colors.

It should also be noted the centrifugal movement of yellow and the centripetal blue.

The first color pricks the eyes, in the second the eye sinks. This effect increases if the difference in lightness and darkness is added to it, i.e. yellow is enhanced by adding white to it, and blue by darkening it with black.

Regarding the structure of the eye, Academician S. I. Vavilov writes: “How simple the optical part of the eye is, how complex its perceiving mechanism is. Not only do we not know the physiological meaning of the individual elements of the retina, but we are not able to say how appropriate the spatial distribution of photosensitive cells, why a blind spot is needed, etc. Before us is not an artificial physical device, but a living organ in which advantages are mixed with disadvantages, but everything is inextricably linked into a living whole.

A blind spot, it would seem, should prevent us from seeing the whole object, but under normal conditions we do not notice this.

Firstly, because the images of objects falling on the blind spot in one eye are not projected onto the blind spot in the other; secondly, because the falling parts of objects are involuntarily filled with images of neighboring parts that are in the field of view. If, for example, when looking at black horizontal lines, some areas of the image of these lines on the retina of one eye fall on a blind spot, then we will not see a break in these lines, since our other eye will make up for the shortcomings of the first. Even when observing with one eye, our reason compensates for the lack of a retina and the disappearance of some details of objects from the field of view does not reach our consciousness.
The blind spot is quite large (at a distance of two meters from the observer, even a person's face can disappear from the field of view), but under normal conditions of vision, the mobility of our eyes eliminates this "lack" of the retina.

Irradiation

The phenomenon of irradiation consists in the fact that light objects against a dark background seem to be enlarged against their real sizes and, as it were, capture part of the dark background. This phenomenon has been known since very ancient times. Even Vitruvius (I century BC), the architect and engineer of Ancient Rome, pointed out in his writings that when dark and light are combined, "light devours darkness." On our retina, the light partly captures the place occupied by the shadow. The initial explanation of the phenomenon of irradiation was given by R. Descartes, who argued that an increase in the size of light objects occurs due to the spread of physiological excitation to places adjacent to a directly irritated place in the retina.
However, this explanation is currently being replaced by a new, more rigorous one, formulated by Helmholtz, according to which the following circumstances are the root cause of irradiation. Each luminous point is depicted on the retina of the eye in the form of a small circle of scattering due to the imperfection of the lens (aberration, from Latin - deviation), inaccurate accommodation, etc. When we consider a light surface against a dark background, due to aberrational scattering, the boundaries this surface, and the surface seems to us larger than its true geometric dimensions; it seems to extend over the edges of the dark background surrounding it.

The effect of irradiation is the sharper, the worse the eye is accommodated. Due to the presence of circles of light scattering on the retina, under certain conditions (for example, very thin black threads), dark objects on a light background can also be subjected to illusory exaggeration - this is the so-called negative irradiation. There are a lot of examples when we can observe the phenomenon of irradiation, it is not possible to give them here in full.

The great Italian artist, scientist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci, in his notes, says the following about the phenomenon of irradiation: “When the Sun is visible behind leafless trees, all their branches opposite the solar body are so reduced that they become invisible, the same thing will happen and with a shaft placed between the eye and the solar body.I saw a woman dressed in black, with a white band around her head, the latter appearing to be twice the width of the shoulders of a woman who was dressed in black. from each other at intervals equal to the width of these teeth, then the intervals seem to be much larger than the teeth ... ".

The great German poet Goethe points out a number of cases of observations of the phenomenon of irradiation in nature in his treatise "The Teaching of Flowers". He writes about this phenomenon as follows: "A dark object seems to be smaller than a light object of the same size. If we consider simultaneously a white circle on a black background and a black circle of the same diameter on a white background, then the latter seems to us approximately "/, less than the first. If the black circle is made correspondingly larger, they will appear equal. The young crescent of the moon seems to belong to a circle of a larger diameter than the rest of the dark part of the moon, which is sometimes distinguishable in this case.

The phenomenon of irradiation in astronomical observations makes it difficult to observe thin black lines on objects of observation; in such cases it is necessary to stop the lens of the telescope. Physicists, due to the phenomenon of irradiation, do not see thin peripheral rings of the diffraction pattern. In a dark dress, people seem thinner than in a light one. Light sources visible from behind the edge produce an apparent notch in it. The ruler, from which the flame of the candle appears, is represented with a notch in this place. The rising and setting sun makes a notch in the horizon.

A few more examples.

The black thread, if held in front of a bright flame, seems to be interrupted in this place; the incandescent filament of an incandescent lamp seems thicker than it really is; light wire on a dark background seems thicker than on a light one. The sashes in the window frames appear smaller than they really are. A statue cast in bronze looks smaller than one made of plaster or white marble.

The architects of ancient Greece made the corner columns of their buildings thicker than others, given that these columns from many points of view will be visible against the background of a bright sky and, due to the phenomenon of irradiation, will appear thinner. We are subjected to a peculiar illusion in relation to the apparent magnitude of the Sun. Artists tend to draw the Sun too large compared to other depicted subjects. On the other hand, in photographic landscape shots, which also show the Sun, it seems unnaturally small to us, although the lens gives a correct image of it.
Note that the phenomenon of negative irradiation can be observed in such cases when a black thread or slightly shiny metal wire appears thicker on a white background than on black or gray. If, for example, a lace maker wants to show off her art, then it is better for her to make lace from black thread and spread it on a white lining. If we observe the wires against a background of parallel dark lines, such as a tiled roof or brickwork, then the wires appear thickened and broken where they cross each of the dark lines.

These effects are also observed when the wires are superimposed in the field of view on a clear outline of the building. Probably, the phenomenon of irradiation is associated not only with the aberration properties of the lens, but also with the scattering and refraction of light in the media of the eye (a layer of liquid between the eyelid and the cornea, media filling the anterior chamber and the entire interior of the eye). Therefore, the irradiative properties of the eye are obviously related to its resolving power and radiant perception of "point" light sources. The ability of the eye to overestimate acute angles is connected with aberrational properties, and therefore, partly with the phenomenon of irradiation.

Astigmatism of the eye.

Astigmatism of the eye is its defect, usually due to the non-spherical - (toric) shape of the cornea and sometimes the non-spherical shape of the lens surfaces. Astigmatism of the human eye was first discovered in 1801 by the English physicist T. Jung. In the presence of this defect (by the way, not in all people it manifests itself in a sharp form), there is no point focusing of rays falling parallel to the eye, due to different refraction of light by the cornea in different sections. Pronounced astigmatism is corrected by glasses with cylindrical glasses, which refract light rays only in the direction perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder.

Eyes completely free from this deficiency are rare in humans, as can be easily seen. To test the eyes for astigmatism, ophthalmologists often use a special table, where twelve circles have shading of equal thickness at regular intervals. An eye with astigmatism will see the lines of one or more circles as blacker. The direction of these more black lines allows us to conclude the nature of the astigmatism of the eye.

If astigmatism is due to the non-spherical shape of the lens surface, then when moving from a clear vision of horizontal objects to viewing vertical objects, a person must change the accommodation of the eyes. Most often, the distance of clear vision of vertical objects is less than that of horizontal ones.

Our vision is very easily able to deceive our brain with simple color illusions that surround us everywhere. Some of these illusions are waiting for you further.

How many flowers are in the picture?

The blue and green spirals are actually the same color - green. Blue is not here.

The brown square in the center of the top face and the "orange" square in the center of the front face are the same color.

Look closely at the board. What color are cells "A" and "B"? It seems that "A" is black, and "B" is white? The correct answer is below.

Cells "B" and "A" are the same color. Gray.

Does the bottom of the figure seem lighter? Use your finger to cover the horizontal border between the top and bottom of the shape.

See the chessboard with black and white cells? The gray halves of the black and white cells are the same shade. Gray color is perceived either as black or as white.

The figures of horses have the same color.

How many colors are there besides white? 3? four? In fact, only two - pink and green.

What color are the squares here? Only green and pink.

Optical illusion

We look at the dot, and the gray strip on the orange background becomes ... blue.

In place of the disappearing purple spots, a green spot appears, moving in a circle. But it doesn't exist in reality! And if you concentrate on the cross, then the purple spots disappear.

If you stare at a dot in the center of a black and white image for 15 seconds, the picture takes on colors.

Stare at the center of the black dot for 15 seconds. The image will become colored.

Look at the 4 dots in the center of the picture for 30 seconds, then move your gaze to the ceiling and blink. What did you see?

At the intersections of all the white stripes, with the exception of the intersection where you are fixing your eyes at the moment, small black spots are visible, which are not really there.

disappearance

If you look closely at the dot in the center for a few seconds, the gray background will disappear.

Focus on the center of the picture. After a while, the blurry color images will disappear and turn into a solid white background.