I think it goes without saying that horses are among the most beautiful and majestic animals on earth.
Whether you’re a devoted equestrian or just appreciate these big animals from afar, it’s always interesting to see horses interact with art, as we saw with these elegant, artistic horse haircuts.
And it makes perfect sense. Few animals are as graceful and well-suited to the artistic form as these dignified creatures.
At the moment, our favorite horse-powered art form involves a pair of puzzling paintings. These two beautiful works are absolutely lovely, but they’re tearing the internet apart as viewers try to calculate exactly how many horses are actually on display.
We were stumped for a long time before we figured out the answers, so make sure to let us know what answers you got in the comments section.
And don’t forget to Liked Video E with friends to see what they think of these beautifully baffling puzzles!
This lovely painting called Pintos was made by the artist Bev Doolittle in 1975.
She and her husband were traveling around the American Southwest when they surprised a small herd of chestnut horses, who were carefully watching the human interlopers.
The idea of watching and being watched sparked something for Doolittle, who decided to make the painting Pintos, and create a world where they almost disappeared into a snowy backdrop.
The resulting painting is beautiful, but it’s hard to tell exactly how many horses there are in the picture.
After you give it a try, click below to reveal the answer!
In fact, when you look closely, you can see five distinct horses.
Though it can be tricky to tell due to the mottled appearance of the landscape, and Doolittle’s deliberate camouflaging technique, there are three adult horses grouped close together in the center.
Off to the left side, you can see another horse staring away from the herd, while a tiny, easy-to-miss, foal is nestled towards the bottom right corner.
Of course, thanks to the deliberately nuanced composition of the painting, there is some argument that there are more horses in the painting.
For example, some people claim that there’s another horse hidden to the back of the herd, disguised by her friends.
More commonly, people say that they see a more abstract horse in the rocky outcropping behind the herd.
And if that’s not enough horses for you, check out another similarly puzzling optical illusion.
This painting is by the artist Jim Warren, and is entitled Seven Horses.
It’s a beautiful, colorful scene, set on a fantastical beach surrounded by greenery and turquoise waters.
Thanks to the title of the piece, we already know how many horses are concealed in the scene.
Here, the real trick is finding all seven, which is a matter easier said than done.
The first four are easy enough to spot, appearing fairly clearly throughout the scene.
First, there’s the perfectly obvious horse on the beach.
On closer inspection, you will also notice a foamy horse made of waves, a bucking stallion in the clouds, and an imperious creature looking on from the greenery on the left-hand side.
From there, however, it gets more complicated.
The fifth horse can be found in the negative space between the greenery and the sky in the top right-hand corner.
The sixth horse is even more abstract — concealed upside down in the tumble of purple flowers to the right. We had to flip the whole scene to find it!
And the seventh horse? Well, that’s the most tricky find of all.
Artist Jim Warren, whose work is viewable online and on Facebook, advised LittleThings to look at the sand for our clue…
That’s right, the hoof prints in the sand are the seventh horse! It has already walked out of the scene, but the prints are still present!
What did you think of these two clever puzzles?
Let us know whether your solutions matched up with ours, and don’t forget to Liked video on Facebook for friends who love a good brain teaser!
