But not all theories about the meaning of works are clearly so delusional. Some manage to be both very convincing and downright mind-blowing at the same time.
1The Satyr Weeping For A Nymph Really Shows A Brutal Murder
The painting was painted by Piero di Cosimo in 1495 and supposedly depicts a scene from Ovid's Metamorphoses. In this story, Procris was accidentally killed in the forest by her husband, the hunter Cephalus, who mistook his wife for a wild beast and speared her.
This is a typical scene choice for a renaissance artist, but there is one problem. A careful study shows that the Procris depicted in the painting by Cosimo could not have been killed by accident.
According to British professor Michael Baum, all signs indicate that the canvas depicts a brutal murder. Procris has deep lacerations on her arm, as if she was trying to fend off knife attacks. Finally, there is also a wound on the neck.
Instead of depicting a scene from the novel, Cosimo's painting shows us the aftermath of a violent knife attack. It probably wasn't done on purpose. Professor Baum suspects that Cosimo asked the local mortuary to lend him a corpse in order to sketch the murder victim.
2 Diego Rivera Testified That JD Rockefeller Jr. Had Syphilis
The work of Diego Rivera "The Man Controlling the Universe" is one of the notable creations in the Mexican art of painting. The mural was originally commissioned for Rockefeller Center but later remodeled in Mexico City after Nelson Rockefeller destroyed the mural.
He did not like that Lenin was depicted on it. The restoration of the image was also a monumental act of revenge. The mural claims that Nelson Rockefeller's father had syphilis.
One of the key elements of the painting was the episodes of the latest scientific discoveries. Galaxies, exploding stars, lots of bacteria floating above the heads of men and women...
After Nelson Rockefeller destroyed the original version, Rivera painted his father, J.D. Rockefeller, Jr., surrounded by bacteria that cause syphilis.
That's not all. Despite the fact that J. D. Rockefeller Jr. was a teetotaler throughout his life, Rivera painted him with a martini in his hand and women who looked like prostitutes. To enhance the effect, he placed Lenin in the foreground.
3. In the painting "Isabella" a man hides his erection
One of the luminaries of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, John Everett Millais, is probably best known today for the painting Ophelia. At least that was the case until 2012, when researchers discovered something unexpected in his painting Isabella. It depicts a scene from Boccaccio's Decameron, and the shadow of an erect penis is clearly visible on the banquet table.
The Decameron is one of the most erotic books ever written, and the picture is full of references to sexuality. The character's outstretched leg is a phallic symbol, and a pile of spilled salt near the shadow of a penis probably symbolizes a seed. It looks obscene, but at the same time it is not at all like ordinary pornography.
4. La Primavera expresses love for gardening
This is one of the most famous works by Botticelli in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. La Primavera is also one of the most enigmatic paintings by Botticelli. Due to the fact that it depicts a group of women who walk through the sky as if through a meadow, experts still argue that the picture has an allegorical meaning.
But there is one theory that stands out from all the rest for its evidence and strangeness, who claims the painting is about gardening.
This version looks plausible because of the breathtaking scrupulousness with which the author prescribes each plant. According to official estimates, the painting depicts at least 500 carefully rendered different plants from almost 200 different species.
Some believe that these were all plants that grew in 15th century Florence and bloomed from March to May. Others claim that Botticelli invented these plants himself, especially for this picture.
5. "Music Lesson" is filled with sexuality
Created by Johannes Vermeer in the 1660s, The Music Lesson is considered one of the greatest paintings of Dutch life in the 17th century. A young girl is taught to play the harpsichord by a handsome tutor.
This is a photorealistic depiction of a typical high society day during Vermeer's time. At least that's the standard explanation. Some believe that the picture is permeated with sex and hidden passion.
According to this theory, the painting is filled with little clues to understanding the sexual tension between the girl and her mentor. It is not surprising that the image of a girl is associated with virginity, but the mirror over the harpsichord shows that the girl is actually looking at the teacher while playing.
The wine jug is an aphrodisiac, while the tool on the floor is interpreted as a huge phallic symbol. If we consider the picture from this point of view, then it is even possible to assume that the viewer is a voyeur.
And it's not just the case with this picture. Some art historians argue that the presence of music in Vermeer's paintings always symbolizes sexuality, which makes his work very strange.
6. Cafe Terrace at Night is reminiscent of The Last Supper
Painted in 1888, Café Terrace at Night is one of Van Gogh's most important works, fully revealing the artist's distinctive style. She is also one of his favorites. But some argue that it has a much deeper subtext. A recent theory is that Café Terrace at Night refers to The Last Supper.
From an early age Van Gogh was extremely religious. His father was a Protestant priest, and influential art critics claim that the artist's paintings are filled with Christian imagery.
In the case of the "Night Café Terrace", this imagery is manifested in the form of Jesus coming to eat with his disciples. If you look closely at the diners, you can see that there are twelve of them and they are sitting around the central figure with long hair.
Tellingly, there are even a number of crosses hidden in the picture, including one directly above the figure of Christ. There is other evidence to support this theory.
When Van Gogh wrote to his brother about painting, he claimed that the world was in "great need" for religion. He was also deeply fascinated by Rembrandt and expressed a desire to revive his style with subtle Christian symbolism. Café Terrace by Night may well be proof that, in the end, he succeeded.
7. "Allegory with Venus and Cupid" warns of syphilis
A picture that shows Venus and Cupid about to have sex with a bald man in the background always stirs the imagination. Even by the standards of its time, Agnolo Bronzino's painting "Allegory with Venus and Cupid" is a bit dark.
Despite rave reviews about the work as an erotic painting of "special beauty", there is a lot of evidence that this is indeed a warning about syphilis. This is evidenced by the screaming figure on the left side of the picture.
Although the classic description of the painting says that this is a metaphor for jealousy or despair, close examination reveals that she is actually very ill. The fingers of the figure are swollen, like those of patients with syphilis, they lack nails, and the hair has signs of syphilitic alopecia. Toothless gums suggest mercury poisoning, which was used to treat syphilis in Renaissance Italy.
One of the characters has a rose thorn in his leg, but he does not notice it. This lack of sensation will be the direct result of syphilitic myelopathy. In other words, the picture depicts the suffering that awaits in the future those who follow the passions.
8. El Autobus talks about a terrible accident
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's painting El Autobus, painted in 1929, shows the life of the Mexican community. A housewife, a worker, an Indian mother, and a wealthy gringo businessman, despite social differences, are waiting for a bus next to a girl who probably means Frida herself. All the characters in this picture do not know that a terrible accident awaits them.
In 1925, Kahlo was riding a bus that crashed into a tram. The collision was so strong that Kahlo's body was pierced through with a metal handrail.
Her later work often refers to this accident, implying that she survived the crash as a miracle. El Autobus is also no exception. There is speculation that the worker in the painting is the same person who saved Kahlo's life by removing the broken handrail from her body.
9. Pictures of the Dutch school of painting - pictures in pictures
The Dutch golden age of painting is second only to the Italian Renaissance. As in other eras, this time also had its own quirks in fashion and painting, one of which was that artists painted "pictures within pictures".
These "pictures within pictures" were painted not only by Vermeer and his comrades in the brush. Some believe that such paintings contain a special character code. One example of this style is the painting "Slippers" by Samuel van Hoogstraten.
At first glance, the painting shows an empty hall with two pairs of slippers lying in the middle of it. On the wall of the hall hangs a painting by Caspar Netscher "A father reprimands his daughter."
At first glance, nothing out of the ordinary. But modern connoisseurs of Dutch art know that Netsher's painting was painted in a brothel. Apparently, these slippers belong to a man and a woman, but since the hall is empty, they may have gone to have sex.
In other cases, the code was thinner. In the paintings "Man Writing a Letter" and "Woman Reading a Letter" (pictured), Gabriel Metsu depicted a young man writing a letter to his beloved and reading it.
In the second picture, the image of a ship in a stormy sea symbolizes the stormy nature of their future connection. In the painting “Love Letter” by Vermeer, a ship under ominous clouds inspires the thought of possible bad news.
You can find hundreds of examples of these Dutch "inside the picture" paintings that subtly change the meaning of the main image.
10. The works of L. S. Lowry are full of hidden suffering.
This mid-20th century artist is known for his paintings depicting the North West of England. L. Lowry often painted huge urban scenes with crowds of "swindlers". Although he was popular, the art world did not recognize his paintings for a long time, considering them trivial. In fact, Lowry's paintings are filled with hidden human suffering.
On the canvas of 1926 "Accident" a crowd of people who have gathered near the lake and look at it is drawn. In fact, the artist was inspired by the suicide scene in this place, and the crowd gathered to gawk at the corpse of the drowned man.
Other Lowry paintings show characters watching fisticuffs, unfortunates being evicted from their homes, or simply people looking out of windows in a depressed mood.
Tragedy never sticks out in any picture. All other people go on with their daily lives, unaware of the suffering of their fellow human beings. In this world, we are completely alone, and our pain means nothing to others. And this is probably the most terrible hidden message.
Daria Zolotykh 11.10.2015
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optical illusions, artistic optical illusion, mind games are the favorite techniques that a modern Ukrainian artist often uses in his painting Oleg Shuplyak. And why travel far to distant lands to Germany, the UK or the USA to see a human face in the painted branches or read a text on the walls of a building that looks like randomly scattered colored strokes and specks, when the Ternopil region, where this artist lives and works, is located like this close?
Oleg Shuplyak is an architect by education, but he has been teaching drawing and painting for a long time, starting from a school in his native village, and continuing at the art school in the city of Berezhany. Despite the fact that the artist's portfolio contains countless traditional paintings, it is the non-traditional ones that attract attention - the so-called "paintings with a double meaning", according to the author's terminology.
Working in the field of easel painting and doing church painting, Oleg Shuplyak still considers surrealism to be his element. It was this genre that had the greatest influence on his development as an artist, and today elements of the surah are present in almost all of the author's "non-traditional" paintings. Let's add here elements of associative symbolism, postmodernism, abstractionism, well, how can we do without it? - realism, and we will end up with incredibly fascinating puzzles, those very masterpiece optical illusions, paintings with a double meaning, which Oleg Shuplyak skillfully draws.
Ukrainian artist Oleg Shuplyak has repeatedly participated in foreign exhibitions of contemporary art, including in New York, and in British Nottingham, and in other cities of Western and Eastern countries. But even at home, he is highly valued, inviting him with expositions and master classes to galleries of modern art, moreover, since 2000, Oleg Shuplyak has become one of the members of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. You can get acquainted with the work of this author on his website.
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Dual or ambiguous images, as the Big Psychological Dictionary tells us, are explained by the fact that when perceiving such drawings, a person has different ideas that equally correspond to the image.
How many women do you see?
At the first examination, 90% of people see an attractive girl of 20-25 years old, the remaining 10% see an old woman over 70 with a huge nose. For those who see the picture for the first time, it is difficult to see the second image.
Clue: The girl's ear is the eye of an old woman, and the oval of a young face is the nose of an old woman.
The first impression, according to psychologists, usually depends on which part of the picture your eyes fell on in the first moment.
After a little training, you can learn to order yourself who you want to see.
The psychiatrist E. Boringu used the portrait in the 1930s as an illustration for his work. The author of such an image is sometimes called the American cartoonist W. Hill, who published the work in 1915 in the Pak magazine (translated into Russian - “elf”, “fairy spirit”).
But back in the early years of the 20th century, a postcard was issued in Russia with the same picture and the inscription: “My wife and my mother-in-law.”
The picture with two ladies can be found in many manuals on psychology.
Hare or duck?
What character did you see first on the modern version of The Ehrenstein Illusion? The very first "duck-hare" drawing was published in Jastrow's book in 1899. There is an opinion that if children are shown a picture on the first day of Easter, they are more likely to consider a rabbit in it, but, and if shown to them in October, they will slopes to see a duck or similar bird
Clue: In the picture, you can see a duck that is pointing to the left, or a hare that is pointing to the right.
Singing Mexicans or old people?
Mexican artist Octavio Ocampo is the author of rather unusual paintings with hidden meanings. If you look closely, you will see another, hidden image in each of his drawings. He has made sets for over 120 Mexican and American films. He created several portraits of famous people of the Western world in a surreal style (“Portrait of the singer Cher”, “Portrait of the actress Jane Fonda”, “Portrait of Jimmy Carter”, etc.).
Clue: The old man and the blonde old woman look at each other. Their eyebrows are the hats of Mexican musicians and their eyes are the faces of the musicians.
Just Rose?
At first glance, yes. An ordinary flower and nothing more. But it was not there. The author of this image - Sandro del Pre - formed a new direction in art, which he called "illusoryism", with an emphasis on creating optical illusions when writing pictures.
Clue: In the center of the rose, you can see the kissing couple.
Old man or cowboy?
This painting by Ya. Botvinnik, the first half of the 20th century, USA, is called “My husband and my father-in-law”.
Who did you see first? A young man with a cowboy hat or an old man with a big nose?
Psychologists say that a person's attitude towards himself affects the choice of image: with a positive attitude, people more often perceive a young image in the first seconds.
Clue: The cowboy's neck is the old man's mouth, the ear is the eye, the chin is the nose.
What do you see in the sixth picture?
Leave your options in the comments to this article. The answer will appear at 13:00 on October 8, 2013.
Answer: Skull or young couple
Illusion paintings are eye-catching, even if you are not a fan of fine art. They fascinate with their unusualness, you want to look at them in order to understand the message of the author.
Each work is a kind of puzzle that is not so easy to solve the first time. Let's talk about the most famous authors and their works made in a similar genre.
Illusion of Donald Rust (Donald Rust)
Donald Rast is a very popular American artist who works in the "camouflage" genre (he skillfully disguises another under one image). 
The main themes of his works are wildlife, urban and fairy-tale landscapes.
The artist is in constant search, trying various techniques, successfully playing with time and space.
Today, paintings by this master can be found in many galleries, museums of modern art, and private collections.
He created more than 17,000 works, each of which is original and worthy of attention.
Riddle Pictures by Steven Gardner
Talented California-based animal artist Steven Gardner has been painting mystery paintings for over 30 years. At first glance, his works are no different from others. However, if you look closely at them, you can see the hidden silhouettes of animals. 
Gardner's works captivate the viewer, make them think, train attention and memory. Reproductions of paintings by the American artist are often used for illustrations for books, for creating puzzles and puzzles, published in magazines, on posters and calendars.
Paintings - illusions from the artist Octavio Ocampo (Octavio Ocampo)
Octavio Ocampo is one of the most famous artists who creates incredible optical illusions in the style of Spanish surrealism. 
He began by creating scenery for theatrical productions. Today, his works are kept in many museums and private collections, they are admired by millions of people around the world.
Ocampo's paintings are always with a secret. The master manages to combine several images into one story with several separate plots.
Paintings with a double meaning by Oleg Shuplyak
Oleg Shuplyak is a contemporary Ukrainian artist working in the genre of associative symbolism, surrealism and abstract art. 
He is a participant of many international exhibitions. Despite the large number of works made in the traditional genre, Shuplyak became famous for his optical illusions or paintings with a double meaning, as he himself calls them.
They delight the viewer, as ordinary, at first glance, plots, upon closer examination, turn into recognizable faces and silhouettes of people. Most of his works are devoted to the Ukrainian theme.
Camouflage art by Bev Doolittle
The name of this famous American artist is associated primarily with camouflage art. 
Her works are distinguished by a large number of small complex details and a masterfully built composition, they attract the attention of those around them with a special atmosphere.
Paintings by Bev Doolittle have a custom size, stretched horizontally. The main theme of the work is the history, nature and population of the Wild West.
The artist was inspired to create such paintings by a long family trip to America.
Paintings by Robert Gonzales
Another well-known illusionist artist from Canada, whose work was influenced by the paintings of Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte. 
He works in the style of magical realism. The canvases of Robert Gonzalez have received many international awards.
A careful look will mark several scenes in the paintings at the same time, and this is done so professionally that the transition between them is almost imperceptible.
The more you look at them, the more details the picture reveals. One of Gonzalez's most famous works, "Swimming to Sunset", is a maritime-themed work that many consider to be one of the most popular works in the world.
Mysterious portraits of Viktor Molev
Viktor Molev is a Russian illusionist. He was born in Nizhny Novgorod and now lives and works in Canada. 
His paintings are unusual and fabulous in their plots and characters, made in the style of fantasy and decorative realism. Each of them has a hidden meaning, which is revealed upon closer examination.
