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Aesthetic ambiguity in literature has been ascribed to devices like metaphoraccessing primary process (E. Kris, 1952) and unconscious fantasy stimulating affects (J. Arlow, 1969a, 1969b). The ambiguous relationship between artist and model provides a vantage point to study aesthetic ambiguity in nonverbal art. Two examples are Vermeer's painting “The Art of Painting” (1666-1667) and Jacques Rivette's film La Belle Noiseuse (M. Marignac & J. Rivette, 1991). Studies in central visual processing and neural mapping point to the neural propensity for perceptual ambiguity. The author proposes that nonverbal aesthetic form contains the sensory impact of perceptual ambiguity, leading directly to affects, secondarily elaborated by unconscious fantasy.