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Some visual artists strive to please the eye, while others specialize in tricking it. Yet others manage to do both at the same time, as French photographer Fanette Guilloud, who uses no computer tricks or superposition of images — only spray paint and her camera — to produce stunning forms of geometric impossibility:

 

Fanette Guilloud, Géométrie de l’Impossible #04 (2013) — Source: artfloor.com

One source of inspiration for her images is the work of Swedish graphic artist Oscar Reutersvard (1915-2002), who is usually considered to be the first to explore impossible forms, himself inspired by Japanese and parallel perspectives. He produced over 2,000 images, among which are impossible figures and windows such as these:

Oscar Reutersvard, Japanese Perspective N. 326 — Source: Impossible World

Oscar Reutersvard, Japanese Perspective N. 368 — Source: Impossible World

Oscar Reutersvard, Window — Source: Impossible World

In the 1930s Reutersvard discovered the tricks for both the impossible triangle and the impossible stairs today referred to as the Penrose Triangle and the Penrose Stairs, described by British mathematician Roger Penrose in the 1950s.

Oscar Reutersvard, Opus 1 (1934) — Source: Impossible World

Penrose Triangle — By wikicommons user Tobias R.

The stairs are impossible in the sense that they are always going down clockwise, but still come back to the same level:

Oscar Reutersvard, Japanese Perspective N. 350 — Source: Impossible World

Penrose Stairs

The Penrose Stairs, by the way, featured recently in Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010):

As for the Penrose Triangle, it is another major source of inspiration for Fanette Guilloud:

Fanette Guilloud – Géométrie de l’Impossible #05 (2013) — Source: artfloor.com

Fanette Guilloud – Géométrie de l’Impossible #06 (2013) — Source: artfloor.com

As are other geometrically impossible Penrose-derived shapes:

Fanette Guilloud – Géométrie de l’Impossible #01 (2013) — Source: artfloor.com

Fanette Guilloud – Géométrie de l’Impossible #03 (2013) — Source: artfloor.com

Who knew impossible could be so beautiful?