Trompe-l'œil (French for "trick the eye" from tromper - to deceive and l'œil - the eye; IPA pronunciation ^*) is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist.

Although the phrase has its origin in the Baroque period, use of trompe-l'œil dates back much further. It was (and is) often employed in murals, and instances from Greek and Roman times are known, for instance from Pompeii. A typical trompe-l'œil mural might depict a window, door or hallway to optically enlarge a room.

With the superior understanding of perspective drawing achieved in the Renaissance, painters often added trompe-l'œil features to their paintings, playfully exploring the boundary between image and reality. For example, a fly might appear to be sitting on the painting's frame, a curtain might appear to partly conceal the painting, a piece of paper might appear to be attached to a board, or a person might appear to be climbing out of the painting altogether.

The interior of Jesuit churches in the mannerist style often show trompe-l'œil paintings on the ceiling, optically opening by anamorphosis the church to heaven with a depiction of Jesus' or Mary's ascension.

Trompe-l'œil can also be found painted on tables and other items of furniture, where for example a deck of playing cards might appear to be sitting on the table. A particularly impressive example can be seen at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, where one of the internal doors appears to have a violin and bow suspended from it, in a trompe l'œil painted around 1723 by Jan van der Vaart ^*.

The art form was revived by the American 19th century still-life painter William Harnett. In the 20th century, Richard Haas painted large trompe-l'œil murals in American cities.

Trompe-l'œil is employed in Donald O'Connor's famous "Running up the wall" scene in the film Singin' in the Rain. During the finale of his "Make 'em Laugh" number he first runs up a real wall. Then he runs towards what appears to be a hallway, but when he runs up this as well we realize that it is a large trompe-l'œil mural.

Another variant of trompe-l'œil is matte painting, a technique used in filmmaking where parts of a complicated scenery are painted on glass panels which are mounted in front of the camera during shooting of the scene. This was for instance used in early Star Wars movies.

Fictional trompe-l'œil is featured in many Looney Tunes, such as the Road Runner cartoons, where Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel on a rock wall and the road runner races through the fake tunnel. This is usually followed by the coyote foolishly trying to run through the tunnel after the road runner, only to smash into the hard rock. __NOTOC__

Examples of trompe-l'œil paintings

Examples of trompe-l'œil murals