Art can make the invisible and the unconscious visible, for example through the motif of the mirror. Conversely, it also has the ability to render objects and people invisible, making them disappear from the image and thus from our consciousness. The Dutch painting of the 17th century is still considered a paradigm of art whose aim is to create the most faithful representation of natural and social reality, as well as to describe optical phenomena. Daniela Hammer-Tugendhat illustrates that this art also employed both opposing visualization strategies in her book. Through precise analyses of exemplary works by Rembrandt, Metsu, Vermeer, and Hoogstraten, combined with methodological reflections on current art and cultural studies debates regarding the representation of gender differences, the text-image discussion, and more.