Top 10!: Clever Artworks That Made the Ground Disappear

A subway entrance, a cave, outer space and a glacial abyss—all made to appear on flat ground.

Anamorphic perspective, trompe-l’œil, physical props and carefully positioned people make the ground disappear.

We ranked them by how completely each work transforms the surface, how quickly the illusion works and how well it fits the setting. Likes are open, but they won’t change the 10-to-1 order.

---

10. 🔥 Indiana Jones Chalk Illusion — By Nate Baranowski at EPCOT in Bay Lake, Florida, USA 🇺🇸

At Walt Disney World’s EPCOT, Baranowski turns the walkway into a torch-lit archaeological shaft. A real rope runs from the crouching visitor to Indiana Jones’s painted hand, making it look as if the visitor is holding him above the chamber.

💡 Artist Fact: In his February 9, 2025 post showing the finished work, Baranowski said the Indiana Jones scene was fun to make and pose in, adding that “fire glow is always cool to incorporate into a piece.”

More: 3D Chalk Art by Nate Baranowski at EPCOT

🔗 Follow Nate Baranowski on Instagram

---

9. 🧱 Ninjago Terracotta Army — By Leon Keer and Massina in Günzburg, Germany 🇩🇪

At LEGOLAND Deutschland Resort in Günzburg, Keer and Massina’s 15-by-7-metre pavement painting looks like an excavation filled with LEGO Ninjago figures. From the intended viewpoint, the paving drops into a trench, with a visitor standing at its edge holding a real shovel for scale.

💡 LEGO Fact: The 2021 Ninjago LEGO Terracotta Army revived a 2011 3D LEGO Terracotta Army that Keer designed and created with Ruben Poncia, Remko van Schaik and Peter Westerink at the Sarasota Chalk Festival.

More: Ninjago Terracotta Army in Günzburg

🔗 Follow Leon Keer and Massina on Instagram

---

8. 🛟 White Water Rafting — By Julian Beever in Charleston, West Virginia, USA 🇺🇸

Beever painted the rapids around a real inflatable raft. From the intended viewpoint, the paddler seems caught between a waterfall and the reptile waiting below.

💡 Location Fact: Beever’s official gallery names the work White Water Rafting and places it in Charleston. Photographer Rick Lee documented Beever completing it for FestivALL on June 21, 2007, outside Appalachian Power Park—the venue now called GoMart Ballpark.

🔗 Follow Julian Beever on Facebook

---

7. 🌊 Mediterranean Crossing from In Eskander’s Shoes — By 3D Joe & Max in London, UK 🇬🇧

On London’s South Bank, a crowded dinghy heads toward the viewer through painted Mediterranean waves. The scene depicts one stage of Ethiopian refugee Eskander Turki’s journey.

💡 Context Fact: Unveiled in June 2022, the Mediterranean crossing formed the second of three interactive scenes in Migrant Help’s In Eskander’s Shoes campaign. The other scenes showed Turki’s escape from persecution in Ethiopia and the new life he built through long-distance running in Northern Ireland.

More: Amazing 3D Art by Joe and Max

🔗 Follow 3D Joe & Max on Instagram

---

6. 🕯️ 3D Cave Painting at MergelRijk — By Nate Baranowski in Valkenburg, Netherlands 🇳🇱

Inside MergelRijk in Valkenburg, Baranowski painted a deep cave opening across the visitor path. Rock walls descend toward orange-lit passages, and a thin tightrope lets visitors pose above the apparent drop.

💡 Interaction Fact: In his June 6, 2022 post showing the completed work, Baranowski pointed out several places where visitors could pose, including the tightrope. MergelRijk’s official page lists him among five international artists whose 3D cave paintings can be seen there.

More: More 3D Art by Nate Baranowski

🔗 Follow Nate Baranowski on Instagram

---

5. 🚇 The Belgian Underground — By Kurt Wenner in Brussels, Belgium 🇧🇪

Created for a Eurostar publicity event in Brussels, The Belgian Underground makes it look as if a London Underground entrance has opened in the floor. The stairs seem to continue below the surface, with Alice and other figures inside a distorted Piccadilly Circus station.

💡 Process Fact: Wenner’s own project notes say the work was prepared ahead of the event and Alice was drawn on site. Inspired by the perspective used in European ceiling frescoes, Wenner developed new geometry for images that appear to rise from or fall into the ground.

🔗 Follow Kurt Wenner on Facebook

---

4. 🪐 A Titan Carries the Universe — By Nikolaj Arndt in Blumberg, Germany 🇩🇪

The painting shows a circular stone rim around a purple space portal. A giant figure holds a glowing yellow sphere above it, with painted rocks floating nearby. The unpainted paving makes the portal look more like a hole in the ground.

💡 Festival Fact: Arndt painted the work directly on Blumberg’s Marktplatz for the 2019 Blumberger Street-Art-Festival. Contemporary local coverage describes the figure as a Titan holding the universe and documents Arndt creating it on the asphalt.

More: This Feels Too Real: 22 Illusions by Nikolaj Arndt

🔗 Follow Nikolaj Arndt on Instagram

---

3. ⚡ Dies Irae — By Kurt Wenner in Mantua, Italy 🇮🇹

At Piazza delle Erbe, the cobbles appear to open onto a golden vision of Judgment Day. Pale figures spiral toward a dark center, framed by broken masonry painted to line up with the real paving.

💡 History Fact: Dies irae is Latin for “day of wrath.” Wenner identifies it as one of his first 3D images and says it was already among his signature works by 1986. His official image library lists National Geographic as the client, while documentation hosted by Mantua’s official tourism site identifies Piazza delle Erbe as the location.

🔗 Follow Kurt Wenner on Facebook

---

2. 🧊 The Crevasse — By Edgar Müller in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland 🇮🇪

Müller painted a broad section of Dún Laoghaire’s East Pier as a deep chasm with blue ice walls. A woman appears to balance at its edge.

💡 Scale Fact: Müller presented the work at the Festival of World Cultures in August 2008. The 250-square-metre painting took Müller and five assistants five days to complete.

🔗 Visit Edgar Müller’s METAnamorph site

---

1. 🕳️ Mind Your Step — By Erik Johansson at Sergels torg, Stockholm, Sweden 🇸🇪

Johansson did not paint the plaza. He laid a huge photographic image across Plattan at Sergels torg and aligned it with the square’s black-and-white pattern. From a marked viewpoint, the ground appears to collapse into a rocky shaft.

💡 Project Fact: Contemporary Swedish coverage says the 32-by-18-metre image was on display from June 7 to 12, 2011. The illusion lined up from a yellow viewing platform.

More: Mind Your Step on Street Art Utopia

🔗 Follow Erik Johansson on Instagram

---

Which one is your favorite?