The Golden Tunnel, Surreal Illusions in Gold collection — gold wall art by RAGANA Design
The Golden Tunnel — framed on a wall
The Golden Tunnel — detail
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SURREAL ILLUSIONS IN GOLD

The Golden Tunnel

Op Art in Gold

Rings of raised gold leaf and black twist away into the depth like a tunnel without end, slightly off-centre, so the eye is pulled further and further inside.

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Deep, dizzying and strangely calming. A dramatic piece above a sofa, in a long hallway or in a dark, modern bedroom.

Digital downloadPrinted & framed →
Buy · €9.99Order it printedFine-art print, framed, canvas, puzzle or mug · from €39 · free delivery in the EU→
  • Printable digital download, around 9,000 px on the long edge
  • Samsung Frame TV version included (3840 × 2160)
  • Signed licence certificate (PDF) — see it
  • Sent by e-mail the moment you pay — nothing is shipped

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Optical Illusions in Gold: The Golden Tunnel, The Sinking Sphere & The Endless Staircase framed side by side – set of 3 printable wall art by RAGANA Design
Set of 3 · Optical Illusions in Gold

This work together with The Sinking Sphere and The Endless Staircase — a golden tunnel that pulls you in, a sphere sinking into a checkerboard and a staircase that loops forever.

Buy all three · €19.99
Separately 3 × €9.99 = €29.97
Commercial licence for one venue: €199.99 for all three →
Prefer it printed & framed?Fine-art print, framed or canvas · from €39→See it on your wall
Details
  • Printable digital download, around 9,000 px on the long edge
  • The commercial licence covers hotels, offices, restaurants and public spaces
  • Print it yourself at any size, on metal, acrylic, glass or fine-art paper
On a Samsung Frame TV

Every download also includes a 3840 × 2160 file made for the Samsung Frame and other art-mode TVs: the whole work, uncropped, on a quiet mat in a colour taken from the picture. Send it to the TV with the SmartThings app and show it in Art Mode. All Frame TV art →

The Golden Tunnel — Samsung Frame TV art, 3840 × 2160
How large can I print it?

The file is around 9,000 px on the long edge. That prints crisply to about 75 cm on the long edge at gallery quality, and to 130–170 cm at the distance you look at a picture over furniture. Sizes, paper and framing, in detail →

Which paper or surface?

Gold on dark grounds wants a matte or satin fine-art paper (200–310 gsm), or aluminium for humid rooms; glossy photo paper turns the black into a mirror. The pale works also take satin and baryta papers.

Which licence do I need?

Personal (€9.99) covers your own home and gifts. Any business or space open to the public — a spa, clinic, hotel, office, restaurant — needs the commercial licence (€99.99, one venue, no renewal). The venue guide →

How big, and how high, on my wall?

Width of the furniture beneath divided by 1.618; centre of the picture at 150 cm from the floor. How to hang wall art using the golden ratio →

About this work

Rings of raised gold leaf and black twist away into depth, like a tunnel without an end. The centre sits slightly off the middle, and that small shift is what pulls the eye further and further in. There are no figures and no horizon. The whole picture is made of rings and the dark spaces between them.

Op Art, short for optical art, grew in the 1960s. Artists such as Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley used precise patterns of line and contrast to make flat surfaces seem to move, swell or recede, and the 1965 exhibition The Responsive Eye in New York brought the style to a wide public. The Golden Tunnel follows the same principle. Black and gold rings alone create the sense of depth, and the off-centre point keeps the eye from settling. Oddly, the effect is calming, a place to rest your gaze.

It needs a little room to work. Hang it above a sofa, at the end of a long hallway, or in a dark, modern bedroom with black, charcoal or deep navy walls. As part of the Optical Illusions in Gold set, it pairs with The Sinking Sphere and The Endless Staircase. At 300 dpi the file prints sharply to roughly 75 cm on the long edge.

More from Surreal Illusions in Gold

See the whole collection →

FURTHER READING
What is op art? Optical illusion art, explainedGuideWhat is surrealism? Surreal art, explainedGuideGold and darkness: why quiet rooms need contrastJournal