Paintings are decorative objects in Minecraft. They are placed by right-clicking a surface. When placed, their appearance will randomly be chosen from several different preset images. The size of the painting is also variable, as some images are quite larger than others. If a player is not satisfied with the first design placed, they can just remove the painting from the surface and place it again to get a new design.
Usage/Placement
To place a painting, select it in the hotbar, and right-click a wall of blocks that is not obstructed by any blocks making it "un-flat" (with the exception of torches and buttons, the painting will lay under them). The image will be displayed randomly. Depending on the size of the wall the image can be anywhere from a 1x1 (one block) size, up to a whopping 4x4. In 1.12, paintings fit the largest space possible, making it more likely to get the desired painting (by using scaffolding to limit the area). They are not always even, though. Some may be 1x2 or 2x1, while others are 4x3. Each of these sizes has different images that can be displayed, so the user may want to retry several times before obtaining the one that is desired.
Crafting
| Painting | ||
|---|---|---|
| Stick | Stick | Stick |
| Stick | Wool | Stick |
| Stick | Stick | Stick |
Trivia
- In Minecraft Indev, the painting had an old crafting recipe. It was crafted by using eight Wood Planks and a piece of Wool in the middle.
- Paintings are randomly generated when placed and can vary in size greatly. However, if placed on a wall that is too crowded, none of the really big paintings will generate there.
- Paintings can be knocked off of a surface by throwing snowballs at or shooting arrows at them.
- The texture that the painting has in the back is actually the wood planks texture, but it has been darkened slightly.
- One of the paintings is called bomb in the game files because it's a painting of the "Bomb" map from the video game, "Counter-Strike".
- One of the paintings is called Donkey Kong in the game files because it's a painting of the video game, "Donkey Kong".
- In Multiplayer, if a player is standing behind a painting, then other players will not see the player's nametag.
- The painting called Seaside has been changed slightly. In Minecraft Indev, the plant in the painting was dark green, but in Minecraft Alpha, it changed to have a colourful plant.
- The painting called Stage has been changed slightly. In Minecraft Indev, the spider in the painting was very small, but in Minecraft Alpha, it was changed to a bigger spider.
- There are four 2x2 painting that are currently unused in Minecraft Pocket Edition. They can only be found in the game files.
- There are 30 paintings in total, including the currently unused paintings.
- A painting cannot be placed directly onto a Vine, but if it is placed on a clear block, it may stretch over vines that are covering adjacent blocks. Vines can also grow/spread underneath paintings.
- All paintings are based on real works of art. This video shows 26 paintings and the originals on which they are based.
- The Wither, a spider, a skeleton, a creeper, and a pig can all be found in paintings.
- A painting can be walked through by the player and is commonly used for secret doors.
