The endless enigma

Fascinated by optical phenomena, painters have long created rotating images, picture puzzles, and composite images - that is, works that reveal different levels of meaning depending on the viewer's perspective and interpretation. The present anthology reveals this manifold tradition and at the same time offers an overview of a millenium in the history of art. Sophisticated double images can already be found in older Indian and Persian miniatures; in the art of the sixteenth century Giuseppe Arciboldo's epochal paintings represent a pinnacle in the history of the composite image; in the twentieth century the picture puzzle in particular became the field of experimentation for important modernist painters, above all for Salvador Dali. For example, for his work The Endless Enigma the Catalan genius developed no fewer than six different levels of perception in which the components of the work form constantly new scenes as the viewer fixes on one area and then another. This display of works of multiple meaning from a range of epochs and cultures presents the full range of the phenomenon and demonstrates the significance of the artistic method. This is a book for all art lovers who enjoy seeing and discovering.