History Main / ConcealingCanvas

* In ''Film/TheBatman'', Selina Kyle breaks into a high-tech version; she pushes a button behind the frame, causing the painting (presumably fake) to slide down revealing a safe, which then slides forward out of the wall.

* ''Series/SherlockHolmes''. At the start of "A Scandal in Bohemia", the burglars sent by the King of Bohemia to find the compromising photograph slice open a painting of Irene Adler to see if it's hidden behind the canvas. It's not, so all they do is commit an act of vandalism.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* The first ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' plays with this: it has a safe hidden behind a painting... which is a decoy for the safe built into the frame of the painting.

* ''Literature/TheExecutioner''. In "Terminal Velocity", Mack Bolan breaks into a safe hidden in the office of a KGB honcho, but thanks to a continuity error it changes from a picture of Lenin to one of Brezhnev, then back again.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' - the switch to open a secret door lies behind a poster in the Celadon Game Corner.

* One of the easiest ways to hide a treasure stash in ''{{VideoGame/Minecraft}}'' is to make an adjacent room and hide it behind a 12x12 painting. Preferably you'll have an iron door behind it and the room itself blocked with obsidian, [[OpenSecret because this technique is so old it's pretty much the first thing people think of when they see said giant paintings.]]

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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': "Bender's Big Score" has the safe behind a painting of the Professor opening the painting to find the safe.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* These are still sometimes used in RealLife.
[[/folder]]

** ''Imitation''. The target of the team has a safe concealed behind a painting in her office. Barney uses an electronic device to read the safe's combination while she's opening it.

** In the episode "The Duo is Slumming" the plans for an airplane are in a wall safe concealed by a painting.

* Invoked in "The Frame" from the original ''Series/MissionImpossible'': The team is assigned to stop the rise to power of a murderous Syndicate crime boss. They infiltrate during a big gathering of other bosses. [[spoiler:One of the things they do is to install a small round wall safe behind a painting in his bedroom, while at the same time raiding ''his'' safe.]]

* In VideoGame/{{Penumbra}} ''Black Plague'', an AirVentPassageway is hidden behind an odd painting.
* In the Big Bank heist of ''VideoGame/PAYDAY2'', there's always a safe hidden behind a painting in the bank manager's office. It sometimes holds a keycard necessary to open a security door, though there's usually just a partially-eaten sandwich inside.
** The Golden Grin Casino heist features a safe behind a painting in the manager's office as well; it must be opened to find one of three parts of a code lock. The painting itself can be taken as loot.

* In ''VideoGame/DarkFall : Light's Out'', the button to open a hidden drawer is hidden behind the corner of a painting in the head lighthouse-keeper's room.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11123742/13/The-Vanishing-Cabinet-Of-Time The Vanishing Cabinet of Time]]'' Dumbledore kept his old wand in a safe behind a portrait of the previous Headmaster.

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* ''Series/{{UFO}}'' episode "Exposed". Paul Foster breaks into the Ventura Aircraft Corporation to find evidence that he saw a UFO. He looks behind several paintings on a wall and eventually pulls one back, revealing a safe hidden behind it.

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[[folder:TabletopGames]]

[[folder:WebComics]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

[[folder:TruthInTelevision]]

** In ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', Bond searches Elliot Carver's office for GPS encoder. After having no luck at first, he sits down and contemplates a lighted photo picture of Carver's satellite on the wall--sure enough, it's there.

* In ''Film/TheBatman'', Selina Kyle breaks into a high tech version; she pushes a button behind the frame, causing the painting (presumably fake) to slide down revealing a safe, which then slides forward out of the wall.

** In ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', the safe in which the GPS encoder is stored is hidden behind a painting in Elliot Carver's office.

* In ''Film/TheBatman'', Selina Kyle breaks into a high tech version; she pushes a button behind the frame, causing the painting (presumably fake) to slide down revealing a safe, that then slides forward out of the wall.

%%* ''Film/JamesBond'':
%%** ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' also does this.
* ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' has a secret map behind a painting, showing top secret locations.

In ''Literature/TheSecretLifeOfKittyGranger'', Nazi sympathizer Lowell has a safe full of secret papers hidden behind a painting in his office.

* On ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', we learn Hardison has hidden large quantities of cash inside the frame of his painting of Harlan Leverage III (AKA Old Nate).

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': In "The Fairy Godparents Job", the [[TheCon mark]] has a safe hidden behind a painting in his swanky apartment.

* ''Animation/HappyHeroes'': In Season 5 episode 22, careless S. has a bunch of weapons hidden around the school after Headmaster Tele tells him not to use them on school premises. One of them, a bomb, is hidden in a small space tucked behind a picture of the Headmaster.

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Rogue", the eponymous RogueAgent realises he has an intruder in his apartment. He looks behind a wall painting for a pistol he has stashed there, only to find it missing. So he dives behind a table, grabs a Beretta .32 taped underneath it and challenges the intruder to come out with his hands up.
--->"I'll give you a tip. When you find a gun easily, assume you're supposed to look for another one."

* [[http://www.valuesafes.com/wall_safes.html Still used]] in RealLife. Model 20720 comes with a built-in frame to conceal the door, and a remote control. This trope is mentioned [[http://wallsafestore.com/ by this seller]] and [[http://www.discounthomeoffice.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=49_53 this one]].

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': In "The Fairy Godparents Job", TheMark has a safe hidden behind a painting in his swanky apartment.

* Painter Smurf hides a stash of smurfberry candy ''inside his own painting'' in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "Smurfette's Sweet Tooth".