Brain Strain

Why is this image hard to look at? Because it confuses the brain about where to look. The rattan table acts as a frame that encourages your eye to look at the scene that it frames. But that scene is blurry, and the mind doesn't like to dwell on blurry images. So your eye goes back to the rattan which is nice and clear, but again the rattan directs your eye to the scene that is framed. So your brain goes back and forth, never quite sure where to focus its attention.

 

There's also the additional misdirection created by the shape of the rattan table. It creates an arrow that points your eye right out of the image. But your brain isn't happy with that suggestion either. It wants to figure out where to look inside the image.

 

Done