Pattern Recognition: Picasso, Dali, Breton.

Viewers see what they want to see. The image No. 1 is a photograph of African villagers in front of a hut. This post cart was sent by Pablo Picasso to Salvador Dali. Dali believed that the photo was of a Picasso face (the image No. 2-3). He showed the picture to Andre Breton, the leader of the Surrealist movement, who thought it was a picture of the Marquis de Sade, who interested him.  Dali rationalized that the individual’s mind gives an image the desired characteristics.

No. 1 | African villagers.

No. 2 | A Picasso face.

No. 3 | Salvador Dali, Paranoiac Visage, 1935.

Related Entries: Why People Believe Weird Things (M. Shermer) | Powerful Visual Illusions (A. Seckel)