Illusion Art Museum: Don’t Trust Your Eyes

Illusion Art Museum in Prague turns your world upside down. Can you trust your eyes or is everything you see around you an illusion? The Illusion Art Museum is the place to find the answer and understand how your own eyes play tricks on you. The museum combines optical illusion with modern technologies. Take your (charged) smartphone with you, the photos clearly show the difference between what you see with your eyes and what you see in the photo.

Illusion Art Museum: 5 tips for your visit

1. Bring your smartphone or mobile phone. It need not be the latest model as long as you can take pictures with it. The photos show the ‘reality’ and will surprise you.
2. Take a pair of glasses from the box at the entrance for a better view of the 3D images.
3. Read the information for each exhibit. The text is in Czech and English. The text will give you a better understanding of what you say and to what details you should pay attention.
4. Marks on the floors indicate the best place to take pictures or to see the optical illusion best.
5. Touching the exhibits is allowed, it is even mandatory! It gives an extra dimension to your visit.

Illusion Art Museum: Optical Illusion

All artworks and installations trick your eyes. Often you will not even notice the optical illusion, unless the trick is explained.
You see garbage thrown from a trash can but when you look at the picture from a certain angle, you see ‘Wheatfield with Cypresses’ a work by Vincent van Gogh. Other exhibits refer to the history of Prague such as a picture in which a cannonball pierces the wall of the Castle.
Crumpled and paint-stained pages from a magazine scrunched up. When you touch the exhibit, it feels like paper. But when you take a photo, you see that it is a face. The trick is that we look with two eyes and the camera looks with one eye / lens. Close one eye and you can also see the face.

Portrait of Vaclav Havel

The Czech artist Patrik Proško (1974) specializes in anamorphic portraits. In collaboration with the IAM Illusion Art Museum, he created a unique portrait of Václav Havel that is only visible from a certain angle.

The portrait of Václav Havel consists of objects that refer to his life. A selection of typewriters, various writing instruments and also many books introduce Václav Havel as a writer and playwright. He was a passionate cook, so there are also two cookbooks. Another passion of his was cars, and these can also be seen in the installation. There are also references to music as he admired Frank Zappa, the Plastic People of the Universe, Karel Kryl and the Rolling Stones. The portrait of Václav Havel is composed of more than 3,000 authentic and historical objects and documents.

The IAM Illusion Art Museum has lent Havel’s portrait to Prague Airport. It can be seen in the arrivals hall between terminal 1 and terminal 2 until the end of 2024.

Getting there

Address: Melantrichova 2, Stare Mesto, Prague
Opening hours: daily 09.00-20.00

25% discount with Prague Card

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