Bezold effect

The Bezold effect is an optical illusion, named after a German professor of meteorology, Wilhelm von Bezold (1837–1907), who discovered that a color may appear different depending on its relation to adjacent colors.

It happens when small areas of color are interspersed. An assimilation effect called the von Bezold spreading effect, similar to spatial color mixing, is achieved.

The opposite effect is observed when large areas of color are placed adjacent to each other, resulting in color contrast.

References

• Albers, J. Interaction of color: unabridged text and selected plates. 8. ed. Massachusetts: Yale University Press, 1978.
• Echo Productions. Wilhelm von Bezold. Virtual color museum. Available at: http://www.colorsystem.com/projekte/engl/22beze.htm.
• Bergantini, Ernesto: Farbe im Design. Basiswissen, Gossau, 2010, p. 115.

Optical illusions (list)
Illusions	Afterimage Ambiguous image Ames room Barberpole Bezold Café wall Checker shadow Chubb Cornsweet Delboeuf Ebbinghaus Ehrenstein Flash lag Fraser spiral Gravity hill Grid Hering Impossible trident Jastrow Lilac chaser Mach bands McCollough Müller-Lyer Necker cube Orbison Penrose stairs triangle Peripheral drift Poggendorff Ponzo Rubin vase Sander Schroeder stairs Spinning Dancer Ternus Vertical–horizontal White's Wundt Zöllner
Popular culture	Op art Trompe-l'œil Ascending and Descending (drawing) Waterfall (drawing) Spectropia (book)
Related	Auditory illusions Tactile illusions Temporal illusion