"Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea… demonstrates a fascination with perception and the mystery of identity. Dalí layers multiple optical scales to create two paintings in one. This painting is based on a photograph that Dalí first saw in the November, 1973 issue of Scientific American. Vol. 229. No.5.. The article, “The Recognition of Faces” by Leon D. Harmon, featured a reproduced low resolution (252 pixels) monochromatic photograph of the face of Abraham Lincoln from an American $5 bill. Harmon’s computer generated “coarse –scale” portrait demonstrated the low quantity of information needed to represent a recognizable individual face. The concept awaked Dalί’s old fascination with paranoia – specifically, how much of the reading of an image is from the viewer as distinct from the thing viewed. By squinting slightly and so flattening the depth of field, the portrait of Lincoln snaps into view displacing the figure of Gala. Once seen, the image appears at each return."
From: harchive.thedali.org
A hybrid image is an image that is perceived in one of two different ways, depending on viewing distance, based on the way humans process visual input. The same technic was applied in Leonardo da Vinci's work Mona Lisa, wich is the secret behind the most famous enigmatic smile of history.
Hybrid images (spatial frequencies) was scientificaly studied and developed by Aude Oliva and Philippe G. Schyns.
More about Aude Oliva
More about P. G. Schyns
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