Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Objects reflected in dreams seem larger than they are

I spent a lot of time wondering how Leonor Fini achieved this special effect in her paintings, whereby the reflection of each object looks larger than the object itself -- contrary to geometrical optics (unless the surface of the water is curved up as a convex mirror). CGI? Old-fashioned double exposure?
The answer turns out to be simple: Fini created the reflecting pool as a kind of stage set, mounted on a spindle and rotated on a vertical axis so that centrifugal forces formed the water into a parabolic dish.

Even so, the most expensive special effect in surrealist painting is still the time that Dali hired a DC-9 to use as a studio, so he could paint during the 25-second periods of weightlessness while the plane followed a parabolic path.

BONUS non-geometrical optics from Jeffrey Smart.

1 comment:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I see that lady has no fear of water pythons.

Or maybe she sent someone else in first...
~