History Main / PortalPicture

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''

* [[http://nothotbutspicy.com/para/50fa3/ Site Kilo-29]], a secret nuclear shelter somewhere in the US, has, for whatever reason, [[spoiler: a giant poster of the 2/19th, a US Army base in Germany where a demonic being nicknamed Tandy (after the guy whose body he likes to wear) hunted and killed the narrator's unit every winter for years. It appears that the poster is not just a portal but also the source of Tandy's power in Kilo-29.]]

* The classic video for Music/{{Aha}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMWXyEHoN88 Take On Me.]]

* ''Wiki/RPCAuthority'': [[https://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/rpc-478 RPC-478 ]]'s power before it became depowered was to transport people into the world it depicts.

** ''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 ([[spoiler:specifically, to access the part where you play as a captured Bowser]]).

* In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'', there are several strategically placed paintings that serve as gateways floating in the air when you return to the castle. Pretty convenient, as several doors have disappeared.

* In ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', this was how Edmund, Lucy and Eustace got to Narnia: via a painting located in Eustace's house. Quite likely a homage to George [=MacDonald=]. The picture above comes from TheFilmOfTheBook.

* ''Wiki/RPCAuthority'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-478 RPC-478 ]]'s power before it became depowered was to transport people into the world it depicts.

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-105 SCP-105 ("Iris")]] is an 18-year old girl with the ability to turn photographs into portals to the area in the photograph as it is at that time.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1674 SCP-1674 ("Camera Obscura")]] 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.

* Olympus is accessible via a mural in ''Film/{{Xanadu}}''.

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

* In ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', this was how Edmund, Lucy and Eustace got to Narnia: via a painting located in Eustace's house. Quite likely a homage to George [=MacDonald=]. The picture above comes from TheMovieOfTheBook.

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

* In the 4-part Pepsi advertisement ''Advertising/TheChase'', Music/MichaelJackson, being chased by an overzealous mob of fans and reporters, gets cornered in a museum atrium, [[spoiler:but is heavily implied to have escaped through one of the paintings, despite there being no obvious signs of magic or some other supernatural influence. He pulled it off again with a television almost immediately after.]]

* ''Literature/TheMidnightLibrary'' story "Picture Perfect" has two boys discover a strange painted mural behind some wallpaper of their Grandaunt's house that depicts a different historical period from the pilgrim age all the way to the present. Each section has a child from that era staring out of the painting in terror. Above each period is scribed the latin phrase, "Fatum tuum, nisi celata fuerit pictura, idem erit". One brother becomes obsessed with uncovering the entire mural. [[spoiler:When he reaches the very end, he sees an empty scene resembling his grandaunt's house and gets sucked into the painting. He then learns far, ''far'' too late what the Latin phrase meant: [[AndIMustScream "Your fate will be the same if the mural is not concealed"!]]

* ''Comicbook/GreenLanternAnnual'' #6 has Kyle Rayner buy a rather garish painting by a PlanetaryRomance artist, and get sucked into the world it shows. It turns out that the artist himself escaped into the painting, but as his creativity fades, the world is collapsing.

* The Throne of Yord from ''Anime/ShamanicPrincess'' appears to be a painting, and characters enter and exit a world within it...But the Throne of Yord is evidently [[AGodAmI anything it wants]] [[GeniusLoci to be]].

* ''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.

* ''Film/VanHelsing'' has a PortalPicture.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', the TropeCodifier, 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 ''VideoGame/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.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': In the Art Gallery dungeon, the party can hop into paintings, using them to sneak around foes and reach alternate areas.

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* A similar premise was later used for Nickelodeon's ''WesternAnimation/ChalkZone''.

* The Chameleon from ''WesternAnimation/SuperSecretSecretSquirrel'' did this with stolen paintings for recreation, until the titular protagonist subjected him to and trapped him within modern art.

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