Exploring the fact that all paintings create an illusion, this book shows how artists play visual tricks. The various illustrations demonstrate the use of perspective, optical illusions, anamorphisms, trompe l'oeil and op-art tricks. The practical elements of the book encourage children to become involved in the subject through the use of simple optical and magical tricks such as making ceilings and walls disappear, eyes that follow you around a room and images that appear from nowhere. Just as a magician can fool us into believing something we have not really seen, artists throughout the ages have performed their own very special kind of magic. The author illustrates this point with the story about the artist in Ancient Greece who painted grapes that were so realistic that birds flew up to peck at them. This book explores the strange and impossible world of Escher and similiar amazing optical illusions, reveals how to untangle the fascinating tricks found in all kinds of pictures and suggests puzzles to try oneself.