An apparatus for confocal observation of a specimen includes an illumination device. The illumination device generates illumination radiations of at least two different wavelengths. With the aid of a mask device illuminated by the illumination radiations, one mask image is generated per wavelength. An objective serves for imaging said mask images in the specimen. With the aid of a beam splitter device, the emission radiations emitted by the specimen are divided based on the wavelengths, and are detected based on the wavelengths by a detection device.