Sandro del Prete was born in 1937 in Switzerland. After finishing school, Prete dedicated himself to painting and spent time at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy, learning the painting techniques of the masters. After returning to Switezerland, the painter began to study and create religious and symbolic paintings. His interest in symbols and their meanings has had a definite influence on his art style over the years, adding meaning to his paintings.
In the early 1960s, Sandro del Prete became interested in optical illusions. One of the first things to inspire Prete to paint illusions was a chameleon. After watching a chameleon change its colors, Prete wondered what the world was like for the chameleon. In his own words, he wondered ‘what the animal really saw, what picture it had of its own world’. The changing nature of the chameleon inspired Prete to explore the realm of illusion and he began to paint pictures that revealed a second scene “camouflaged” by the main scene portrayed in the art work.
Sandro del Prete’s paintings are deeply symbolic, filled with animals, objects, symbols and scenes that represent or criticize the spiritual nature of man. Del Prete’s journey through life has been documented in his paintings, an obscure diary of his ideas, thoughts and beliefs. Sandro del Prete’s art work has been compared to that of MC Escher, yet there is one distinct difference between the art of these two great designers. While MC Escher had a passion for mathematics and carefully worked out the dimensions of his designs in mathematical terms, Sandro del Prete’s artworks have a more organic feel to them and lack the mathematical influence that is found in MC Escher’s work.
To see more optical illusions paintings by the surrealist artist Sandro del Prete, visit his website. You can also buy prints of his paintings through the site.
