Top 10!: Clever Artworks That Made the Ground Disappear

A flat street feels dependable—until an artist opens a subway entrance, a cave, outer space or a glacial abyss beneath it.

Anamorphic perspective, trompe-l’œil, physical props and carefully positioned people make the walking surface vanish.

This fixed editorial countdown ranks them by how completely the surface disappears, how quickly the illusion reads and how well the setting completes the trick. Likes remain open, but they do not change the 10-to-1 order.

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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

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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 becomes an excavation filled with LEGO Ninjago figures. A visitor with a real shovel stands at the edge of the anamorphic trench, adding scale and making the paving seem to drop away from the intended viewpoint.

💡 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

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

Beever’s painted rapids swallow the concrete around a real inflatable raft. From the intended viewpoint, the paddler seems caught between a waterfall and the alligator waiting below; the prop and pose complete the anamorphic illusion.

💡 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.

More: 15 Times Cities Forgot to Be Serious

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

On London’s South Bank, the riverside paving disappears beneath a heaving Mediterranean. A crowded dinghy surges toward the viewer, turning one documented stage of Ethiopian refugee Eskander Turki’s journey into an immersive street scene.

💡 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

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

Inside MergelRijk in Valkenburg, Baranowski makes the visitor path appear to fall deeper into the cave. Painted rock walls plunge toward orange-lit passages, while a thin tightrope gives visitors an interaction point above the apparent abyss.

💡 Interaction Fact: In his June 6, 2022 post showing the completed work, Baranowski described several interaction points, including the tightrope walk. 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

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

Created for a Eurostar publicity event in Brussels, The Belgian Underground turns the floor into an impossible London Underground entrance. Stairs appear to continue beneath the real surface as Alice and other figures move through 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. His anamorphic geometry grew from perspective systems used in European ceiling frescoes to make flat surfaces appear architectural.

More: 14 Street Art Illusions That Are Actually Real

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

A circular stone rim opens into a purple cosmos. A monumental figure rises beneath a glowing yellow sphere while painted rocks float between worlds. The unpainted paving around the image makes the opening feel even more convincing.

💡 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

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

At Piazza delle Erbe, Wenner makes the cobbles appear to open into a golden vision of the Last Judgment. Dozens of pale figures tumble and spiral toward the dark center, while the painted broken masonry locks into the real paving around it.

💡 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.

More: 3D Masterpieces

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

Müller makes a broad section of Dún Laoghaire’s East Pier split into sheer walls of blue ice. The woman balancing at the edge completes the illusion, making the flat waterfront feel like the edge of a glacial drop.

💡 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.

More: 100 Times People Stepped Into the Artwork

🔗 Visit Edgar Müller’s METAnamorph site

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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, aligning it with the square’s black-and-white pattern so the ground appeared to collapse into a rocky shaft from one marked viewpoint.

💡 Project Fact: Contemporary Swedish coverage records a 32-by-18-metre image shown from June 7 to 12, 2011, with the illusion designed to resolve from a yellow viewing platform.

More: Mind Your Step on Street Art Utopia

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Which one is your favorite?