“Our senses can be trusted, but they can be easily deceived” (Aristotle 1) What is an optical illusion? For most of us, the term conjures up images of a unique arrangement of vibrant contrasting colors and geometric shapes that deceive the eye and violate our expectations in myriad ways "of representation, form, color, etc. » (Sekel). Figure 1 is a common example of this definition. In this image, the circles appear to expand when in reality the image is static. Another example of an optical illusion would be Claude Monet's painting Rue Montorgueil in Paris, Festival of June 30, 1878 (Figure 3), which depicts a festive street scene, but most people do not connect Rue Montorgueil with Monet in Paris, Festival of June 30, 1878 with optical illusions. They don't realize that all art is an optical illusion. A painting is in reality nothing other than a great optical illusion, “something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality” (Optical Illusion 1). When you look at a painting, you see a scene, a moment. You look at the picture as a whole, without distinguishing the different elements, and seeing how they all come together to create an optical illusion. What we see in Monet's Rue Montorgueil in Paris, Festival of June 30, 1878, is not really a street, buildings, people, flags; it's a mess of color. It is our memories, our experiences, that transform this mess of colors into a street lined with buildings and crowded with people, in an instant. In order to recognize how all works of art are optical illusions, it is essential to understand the visual system presented in Figure 5, which is the...... middle of paper ..... .eki." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. March 11, 2011. .Simanek, Donald E. "THE PRINCIPLES OF ARTISTIC ILLUSIONS. 2003. “VISUAL SYSTEM.” » Neuro-Opthalmology Web. March 11, 2011. “The Woodhull Lecture 1995 Visual Art and the Visual Brain.” » Web. February 25, 2011. .Zeki, Semir Vision: An exploration of art and the brain Oxford: Oxford University Press., 1999.