History Main / PortalPicture

->-- '''BluesClues'''

** Mario 64 also had a vitral, an invisible portrait that only appears in the mirror in front, a seemingly normal wall, two small pools of water, a clock's face, and a bunch of small wells.
** Another Mario example: In ''SuperMarioSunshine'', Shadow Mario painted his M symbol on various landmarks all over the place and these became portals to levels.
** Don't forget ''[=~Luigi's Mansion~=]'', with the trapping variety. Mario was captured at the beginning in a portrait, and when you finish a big boss fight, you turn all of the major bosses you faced into portraits, the frame color depending on how well you did.

* The first ''KingdomHearts'' game has one of these in Wonderland. Add to that The Hundred Acre Wood in both the first and second games. Though, like ''{{Myst}}'' that's more of a Portal Book

* The Angel and the Soldier Boy was an incredible animation with no words, just music by Clannad. During one sequence a toy soldier and angel follow Pirates onto a ship that jumps into a painting of a sea scene
** Watch it if you ever get the chance it really is incredible

[[quoteright:345:[[ThroughTheLookingGlass http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PortalPicture_9754.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:345:...of herself.]]

* ''TwinPeaks: [[TheMovie Fire Walk with Me]].'' Mrs. Tremond and her mask-wearing grandson surprise Laura in the parking lot of the diner with a framed picture of a door of a room of an abandoned house. Tremond says, "This would look nice on your wall." Laura then hangs the picture on her bedroom wall and has the world's worst [[DreamSequence acid trip]] that involves seeing herself standing in the doorway in the picture and then entering the picture...

* ''TwinPeaks: [[TheMovie Fire Walk with Me]].'' Mrs. Tremond and her mask-wearing grandson surprise Laura in the parking lot of the diner with a framed picture of a door of a room of an abandoned house. Tremond says, "This would look nice on your wall." Laura then hangs the picture on her bedroom wall and has the world's worst [[acid trip DreamSequence]] that involves seeing herself standing in the doorway in the picture and then entering the picture.

* ''RoseMadder'' by StephenKing.
** His short story "TheRoadVirusHeadsNorth."

* An arc on SupernaturalSoapOpera ''PortCharles'' involved Kevin being trapped in a painting by a magical candle. For him to get out, someone had to light the candle again.

* A number of the NanoFiction pieces in ''{{Nobilis}}'' are about these, such as "the Box."

* Used in ''TheDeathGate'' at least once, to enter a painting where an elf is held captive.
* A central point to ''LegacyOfTheAncients'', where your character's begins the adventure by discovering a Galactic Museum filled with these. You do most of your traveling trying to get jewel coins to unlock and use the exhibits.

* {{The Angel And The Soldier Boy}} was an incredible animation with no words, just music by Clannad. During one sequence a toy soldier and angel follow Pirates onto a ship that jumps into a painting of a sea scene

* C's world from ''{{Code Geass}}'' is not entered by a picture portal, but the memories stored there are displayed in a portrait gallery or library that can be entered.

[[caption-width-right:345:...of herself.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:345:]]

* ''DeuceBigalow 2'' has a scene were Deuce, high on "space cakes", enters a painting of a Dutch maid and starts fondling her... only problem is, he was actually fondling his best friend...

** His short story "TheRoadVirusHeadsNorth".

* The ''[[BookOfAmber Chronicles of Amber]]'' had "Trumps", which were most commonly the size and shape of Tarot cards, but people skilled in using them could mentally communicate (or combat) the individuals depicted thereon. They also facilitated travel across the dimensions at the invitation of the person ''being contacted'', and only in that direction. Trumps could also depict particular locations, which made them handy escape tools. In the course of the novels, it is revealed that it is not so much the materials of which Trumps are composed as the skills of the Trump artist that gives them their powers: two are scribed onto prison cell walls and become significant plot points later on.

* ''RedDwarf'' did it in "Timeslides". Once the pictures (brought to life with mutated developing fluid) were projected on a screen, they were big enough to step into, for time travel fun. Though you couldn't go outside the frame.
* In the ''{{Charmed}}'' episode "The Painted World", a demon is trapped inside a magical painting.

* In the "NightGallery" episode "Escape Route", a Nazi war criminal on the run from the authorities in South America takes refuge in an art gallery. He discovers that with concentration, he can project himself into a painting and decides to use this to escape from his pursuers, choosing to enter a peaceful painting of a man on a boat. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for him, he winds up projecting himself into the wrong painting, and ends up [[LaserGuidedKarma in a horrific painting depicting the tortures of a concentration camp.]]]]

* A number of the NanoFiction pieces in ''{{Nobilis}}'' are about these, such as "the Box".

* In ''TheElderScrolls: Oblivion'', there was a side quest involving the "Painted World".

Paintings are sometimes described as a 'window into another world'. Some series, especially in video games, take this all too literally. A magic painting will contain an entire world or dungeon which the heroes must [[CoolGate enter]] to defeat the enemies within. In some cases, the [[ArtShift art style will shift]] to match that of the painting, emphasising the otherness of the painting world.

* ''VanHelsing'' has a PortalPicture that turns into a MirrorPortal.

* In ''TheElderScrolls: Oblivion'', there was a sidequest involving the "Painted World".

* Many lucid dreamers report that it's easier to visualize a dreamscene by hanging a picture beside your bed and thinking of "entering" it in dream.

[[quoteright:345:[[AliceThroughTheLookingGlass http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PortalPicture_9754.jpg]]]]

* One episode of ''JimmyNeutron'' had the FiveManBand (With [[ThePaolo Betty]] replacing Libby) falling into an alternate dimension due to a long list of exposition that wont be typed here. The first room they enter is a stark white box with one of these on the wall.

* C's world from ''{{Code Geass}}'' is not entered by a picture portal, but the memories stored there are displayed in a portrait gallery or library that can be entered.

* In ''[[{{Ptitle36fwwzhk}} Looney Tunes: Back in Action]]'', a chase sequence in the Louvre involves several escapes into famous paintings.
* The ''MaryPoppins'' movie had a scene of this sort which took place in a sidewalk chalk drawing.
* ''VanHelsing'' has a PortalPicture that turns into a MirrorPortal.
* ''DeuceBigalow 2'' has a scene were Deuce, high on "space cakes", enters a painting of a Dutch maid and starts fondling her... only problem is, he was actually fondling his best friend...
* ''Night at the Museum 2'' allows characters to jump into (and out of) scenes in paintings during a chase scene.
* {{Harry Potter}} portraits cannot be entered, but their inhabitants can move freely from one frame to another. This is showcased in the fifth film, when people are tipped out of the frames leaving a blank canvas. It was like that in the books, too.
** There is also the portrait of Sirius Black's ancestor, who could not only move between adjacent portraits, but also between his many portraits at different places (implying that they only painted him once, and left a bunch of empty canvases with his name). Since he has a portrait in [[TheDumbledore Dumbledore's]] office, the Blacks' house, and the magical hospital (at least), they use him as a messager. It is stated that ''all'' ex-headmasters of [[WizardingSchool Hogwarts']] portraits can do this; presumably other important (or rich enough) people too.

* There is a short story called "The Rose Window" where a cleric (also the narrator) in a mild fantasy setting has a large rose window brough to his church from the one where he grew up. Then bad things start happening and members of the clergy start seeing something in the window move at night. Then the cleric comes to realize that something other than his god was secretly being worshiped in the church he grow up in. In the end he plans to smashes it [[spoiler: and then destroy his journals if breaking the window fixes the problem. The journal entries are what the reader (you) are reading right now.]]
* ''RoseMadder'' by StephenKing.

* In ''TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', this was how they got to Narnia. Quite likely a homage to George Macdonald.
* The ''[[BookOfAmber Chronicles of Amber]]'' had "Trumps", which were most commonly the size and shape of Tarot cards, but people skilled in using them could mentally communicate (or combat) the individuals depicted thereon. They also facilitated travel across the dimensions at the invitation of the person ''being contacted'', and only in that direction. Trumps could also depict particular locations, which made them handy escape tools. In the course of the novels, it is revealed that it is not so much the materials of which Trumps are composed as the skills of the Trump artist that gives them their powers: two are scribed onto prison cell walls and become significant plot points later on.
** Later on, we also find two main characters within a Wonderland (as in Carroll) bar that's being painted onto a wall by an artist. The point between reality and mural moves back and forth.
* LewisCarroll's second Alice book, ''[[AliceInWonderland Through The Looking Glass]]'', is technically the first example of this trope in literature, in spite of the fact that it was a mirror, not a painting.
* A variation in the ''{{Xanth}}'' series: the Sorceress [[MeaningfulName Tapis]] creates ''tapestries'' that function this way.
** A later book also involved a painting which transported the characters into the world of one of the author's other series.
* ''With a Single Spell'' by [[LawrenceWattEvans Lawrence Watt-Evans]], though its portals depict locations elsewhere in the same world, rather than other worlds.
* In ''TheSandman'', each of [[PowersThatBe the Endless]] has a family gallery with which they can summon each other to their domain. Most appear to be picture galleries, but Despair has a [[HallOfMirrors Hall Of]] {{Magic Mirror}}s and Destiny a garden of colossal statues.
* The protagonist in George Macdonald's ''Lilith'' enters the imaginary world through a painting in the attic on one occasion. The painting portrays the moor where he winds up.
* One of the [[WizardOfOz Oz]] books mentioned a picture of a river drawn so well, that when the artist atempted to draw flowers on the other side, he fell in and drowned.

* ''[[BluesClues Blue's Clues]]''. In nearly every episode, the main characters "Skidoo" into an oil painting for educational puzzle-solving.
** Hell, they've gone into illustrated books, crude drawings, and even ''wrapping paper''. In TheMovie, they even went into a ''sheet of music''.
* ''RedDwarf'' did it in "Timeslides". Once the pictures (brought to life with mutated developing fluid) were projected on a screen, they were big enough to step into, for time travel fun. Though you couldn't go outside the frame.
* In the ''{{Charmed}}'' episode "The Painted World", a demon is trapped inside a magical painting.
* An arc on SupernaturalSoapOpera ''PortCharles'' involved Kevin being trapped in a painting by a magical candle. For him to get out, someone had to light the candle again.
* A ''[[LegendOfTheSeeker Legend of the Seeker]]'' episode had a painter able to out any object or person into a painting just by drawing them on it. In order to get out, the painter had to paint the object or the person on a canvas from within the painting.
* In the "NightGallery" episode "Escape Route", a Nazi war criminal on the run from the authorities in South America takes refuge in an art gallery. He discovers that with concentration, he can project himself into a painting and decides to use this to escape from his persuers, choosing to enter a peaceful painting of a man on a boat. [[spoiler: Unfortunatly for him, he winds up projecting himself into the wrong painting, and ends up [[LaserGuidedKarma in a horrific painting depicting the tortures of a concentration camp.]]]]

* The classic video for A-ha's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMWXyEHoN88 Take On Me]].
* The video of Enya's "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeYL3uhYv48 Caribbean Blue]]"

* ''The CallOfCthulhu Dreamlands'' boxed set had an adventure that involved passing through paintings into various parts of the Dreamlands. An adventure in another supplement had the PC's going through a painting back in time to when the Serpent Men ruled the Earth.
* A number of the NanoFiction pieces in ''{{Nobilis}}'' are about these, such as "the Box".

* ''SuperMario64'' used paintings as the gateways to non-hub worlds.

** Another Mario example: In ''SuperMarioSunshine'', Shadow Mario painted his M symbol on various landmarks all over the place and these became portals to levels.
** Don't forget ''[=~Luigi's Mansion~=]'', with the trapping variety. Mario was captured at the beginning in a portrait, and when you finish a big boss fight, you turn all of the major bosses you faced into portraits, the frame color depending on how well you did.
* ''{{Castlevania}}: Portrait of Ruin'' had this as one of its gimmicks, allowing players to explore very different settings from the 'typical' environs of Dracula's castle.
* One of ''SoulBlazer'''s early dungeons was contained within a painting.
* In ''Atlantis II'', stepping through a painting is a mandatory part of the Ireland quest. It's not immediately obvious that you can do that, though.
* ''The LegendOfZelda: The Ocarina Of Time'', Phantom Ganon leaped in and out of pictures.
* In ''TheElderScrolls: Oblivion'', there was a sidequest involving the "Painted World".
* ''ShadowHearts: From the New World'' has its BonusLevelOfHell (okay, Purgatory) in a painting.
* Some of the {{MacGuffin}}s in ''CityOfHeroes'' are exactly this. Being [=MacGuffins=], we never see them in action.
* The linking books in ''{{Myst}}'', though they might be more of a Portal Book.
* In the ''DeathGate'' adventure-game, a skilled mage can use a painting to create a pocket dimention.
* Also happens very briefly in Poshley Heights in ''PaperMario: The Thousand Year Door''.
* The first ''KingdomHearts'' game has one of these in Wonderland. Add to that The Hundred Acre Wood in both the first and second games. Though, like ''{{Myst}}'' that's more of a Portal Book
* In ''FinalFantasyVI'', the optional quest to find Relm in the World of Ruin involves fighting your way through an art gallery in a wealthy man's house. Most paintings come to life to attack you, but some can draw you into it, effectively acting as a portal.
* [[LampshadeHanging Explicitly invoked]] in ''KingdomOfLoathing'', in the Haunted Art Gallery. The painting is apparently an Escher drawing, which has links to other artworks ...
* Used in ''TheDeathGate'' at least once, to enter a painting where an elf is held captive.
* A central point to ''LegacyOfTheAncients'', where your character's begins the adventure by discovering a Galactic Museum filled with these. You do most of your traveling trying to get jewel coins to unlock and use the exhibits.
* The second ''Azada'' game does this with the illustrations in {{Expy}} versions of several literary classics.

* ''{{Minus}}'' does it several times. [[http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus66.html Here]], for example.

* ''Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings'' was a 1970s British animated series (featured in the US on ''CaptainKangaroo'', and later on the {{Nickelodeon}} series ''Pinwheel'') which applied this trope to a chalkboard by way of a small boy's imagination.
** A similar premise was later used for Nickelodeon's ''ChalkZone''.
* A ''DarkwingDuck'' villain, Splatter Phoenix, has a paintbrush that allows her to enter paintings, alter them, or create surreal helpers based on various art styles.
** [[SoCoolItsAwesome And it is awesome. Nuff said]].
* The Chamaeleon from ''SuperSecretSecretSquirrel'' did this with stolen paintings for recreation, until the titular protagonist subjected him to and trapped him within modern art.
* One episode of ''JimmyNeutron'' had the FiveManBand (With [[ThePaolo Betty]] replacing Libby) falling into an alternate dimension due to a long list of exposition that wont be typed here. The first room they enter is a stark white box with one of these on the wall.
* In a DreamSequence in the ''{{Arthur}}'' story "D.W.'s Name Game," D.W.'s deer friend Walter tells her that Thesaurus "dwells beyond the woods." D.W. says that that's a long way away and asks him if he has a picture. He pulls one out and D.W. jumps into it, then [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks the fourth wall]] to comment "You didn't want to watch me walk through the woods, did you? That would be soooo boring."

* Many lucid dreamers report that it's easier to visualize a dreamscene by hanging a picture beside your bed and thinking of "entering" it in dream.

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* One of the {{Oz}} books mentioned a picture of a river drawn so well, that when the artist wanted to draw flowers on the other side, he fell in and drowned.

* In the "NightGallery" episode "Escape Route", a Nazi war criminal on the run from the authorities in South America takes refuge in an art gallery. He discovers that with concentration, he can project himself into a painting and decides to use this to escape from his persuers, choosing to enter a peaceful painting of a man on a boat. [[spoiler: Unfortunatly for him, he winds up projecting himself into the wrong painting, and ends up [[LaserGuidedKarma in a horrific painting depicting the tortures of a concentration camp.]]

** And it is awesome. Nuff said.

** There is also the portrait of Sirius Black's ancestor, who could not only move between adjacent portraits, but also between his many portraits at different places (implying that they only painted him once, and left a bunch of empty canvases with his name). Since he has a portrait in [[TheDumbledore Dumbledore's]] office, the Black's house, and the magical hospital (at least), they use him as a messager. It is stated that ''all'' ex-principals of [[WizardingSchool Hogwarts']] portraits can do this; presumably other important (or rich enough) people too.

A low-tech posh version of TrappedInTVLand. Compare PortalBook, where the art form is literary rather than visual.

* In ''[[{{Narnia}} Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]'', this was how they got to Narnia. Quite likely a homage to George Macdonald.

* ''[[SuperMarioBros Super Mario 64]]'' used paintings as the gateways to non-hub worlds.

** Another Mario example: In ''[[SuperMarioBros Super Mario Sunshine]]'', Shadow Mario painted his M symbol on various landmarks all over the place and these became portals to levels.
** Don't forget Luigi's Mansion, with the trapping variety. Mario was captured at the beginning in a portrait, and when you finish a big boss fight, you turn all of the major bosses you faced into portraits, the frame color depending on how well you did.