History Main / PortalPicture

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/RedDwarf'' did it in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIITimeslides Timeslides]]". Once the pictures (brought to life with mutated developing fluid) were projected on a screen, they were big enough to step into, for TimeTravel fun--though you couldn't go outside the frame.
* In the children's program ''Series/ZoobileeZoo'' one of the characters ventures inside a picture made by her friend, one created with magic paint. When she starts hearing a crackling sound, she realizes the paint is beginning to dry, and races to get back out before she somehow gets sealed in.
* In the ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' 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.

* In the ''Series/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.]]]]
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E11FearHer "Fear Her"]], a girl has the ability to convert people into crayon drawings.

* ''Series/DeadGorgeous'': In "Love's First Kiss", one of Rebecca's former suitors escapes from a portrait and traps Jonathan in the painting to take his place.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In the ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' episode "The Painted World," a demon is trapped inside a magical painting.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' brings back the paintings from Mario 64, this time as shortcuts between the various kingdoms. They're also used to refight certain bosses (from towers in the Mushroom Kingdom), to rebattle Bowser again (in the chapel on the Moon) and as part of the BrutalBonusLevel Culmina Crater.

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

* One of ''SoulBlazer'''s early dungeons was contained within a painting.

* ''Series/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 TimeTravel fun--though you couldn't go outside the frame.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' used paintings as the gateways to most non-hub worlds. Other gateways were located inside a model mansion in a small cage, an invisible portrait that only appears in the mirror in front, a seemingly normal wall, two small pools of water, a clock's face, a bunch of small wells, a trap door, and holes.

* In both ''EpicMickey'' games, there are film projector screens showing [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts old Mickey shorts]] on them. These screens showing the cartoons act as bridges of sorts from area to area.

Compare with PortalBook and TrappedInTVLand, for different mediums acting as a portal, as well as MirrorUniverse for another flat, common object frequently used in fiction as gateways to different worlds. See also ArtInitiatesLife.

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

* Literature/SixtyEightRooms: The rooms work as this trope with the painted outdoor scene backgrounds becoming the real world outside.

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

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1674 SCP-1674 ("Camera Obscura")]]. SCP-1674-1 is a large painting of an overcast rocky taiga (steppe-like) area. Anyone entering SCP-1674 will end up in another world that resembles the painting.

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber'' had the "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.

* In ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', this was how they got to Narnia. Quite likely a homage to George [=MacDonald=].

Compare with PortalBook and TrappedInTVLand, for different mediums acting as a portal. See also ArtInitiatesLife.

* One episode of ''JimmyNeutron'' had the FiveManBand (With [[RomanticFalseLead 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.

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

* Creator/LewisCarroll's second ''Alice'' book, ''Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass'', 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 ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' series: the Sorceress [[MeaningfulName Tapis]] creates ''tapestries'' that function this way.

* "Chapter Two: A Day Out" of ''Literature/MaryPoppins'' is the inspiration for the scene in the film, above. Mary and Bert the Match Man (but not Jane and Michael) enter one of his pavement sketches, where they have afternoon tea and travel to Yarmouth on merry-go-round horses.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Many lucid dreamers report that it's easier to visualize a dream scene by hanging a picture beside your bed and thinking of "entering" it in dream.
[[/folder]]

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