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Paintings in Minecraft are simple, low-resolution versions of a canvas; they currently appear in Beta, Alpha, Infdev, and Indev. Most of the twenty four (19 in indev and infdev) current canvases are by Kristoffer Zetterstrand and are shrunken to a low resolution to fit Minecraft's graphical theme. Five more are edits or new paintings. A random image from among these is chosen each time a painting is placed. Paintings currently are not flammable and protect covered flammable blocks from being lit.

Paintings can only be placed on flat, vertical surfaces. An easy way to get a painting to fill up the area you want is to mark the bounds with any solid block and place it in the bottom-left corner. It expands canvas size to the top-right to fill up the wall the best it can. Going up and right one block increases the chance for paintings 4x2 or bigger, though it may still take a few tries to get a large painting.

If hit with a throw-able item (such as an Egg, a Snowball or an Arrow), the painting will drop from the wall and can be picked up and placed again. Arrows will disappear when they hit a painting.

There is a glitch that allows you to place a torch on a painting if you hold down the right mouse button and roll across the painting.

Crafting

Ingredients Input » Output
Sticks + Wool Template:Grid/Crafting Table

Paintings can be crafted with any color of wool. The color of Wool used does not have an influence of the picture chosen when the painting is placed.

As of Beta 1.2, paintings will drop when any supporting block is removed, making the creation of "Secret Doors" more difficult. You can still attach a larger painting to a block beside a door, and it will cover the door, making it hidden. Note that ladders, signs, and pressure plates technically count as full blocks, but only signs, doors, and pressure plates can be used to aid in the creation of secret passages. Also, trying to open a door behind a painting may knock the painting off the wall.

Paintings may additionally be used to hide chests in walls, as the painting will not prevent a player from opening the chest. This is especially useful on large multi-player servers.

Paintings are not technically a block, and thus can simultaneously exist with water and torches in the same space as itself. An example of this is: place a torch on the wall, place a painting on the same block of the wall by clicking on the wall (not the torch). If the painting is 1x1, it cannot be removed without first removing the torch. Larger paintings on walls covered with torches can still be removed by left clicking. Players and mobs are able to walk through paintings, and light shows through paintings as well.

Canvases

There are currently 19 canvases in Indev, but there are 24 in Beta. These are mostly based on paintings by Kristoffer Zetterstrand, who also created the Minecraft versions.

Canvas Size Original Name Description
File:Canvas 16 1.png 1x1 blocks
16x16 pixels
Kebab med tre pepperoni Kebab A kebab with three pepperoni (Swedish to English translation).
File:Canvas 16 2.png 1x1 blocks
16x16 pixels
de_aztec Aztec Free-look perspective of the map de_aztec from the video game Counter-Strike.
File:Canvas 16 3.png 1x1 blocks
16x16 pixels
Albanian Alban A man in a desert-type land stood next to a house and a bush.
File:Canvas 16 4.png 1x1 blocks
16x16 pixels
de_aztec Aztec2 Free-look perspective of the map de_aztec from the video game Counter-Strike.
File:Canvas 16 5.png 1x1 blocks
16x16 pixels
Target successfully bombed Bomb Painting of the Counter-Strike map de_dust2, named "target successfully bombed" in reference to the game.
File:Canvas 16 6.png 1x1 blocks
16x16 pixels
Paradisträd Plant Still life painting of two plants in pots.
File:Canvas 16 7.png 1x1 blocks
16x16 pixels
Wasteland Wasteland Painting of a view of wastelands; a small animal is sat on the window ledge.
File:Canvas 16 s.png 1x2 blocks
16x32 pixels
Wanderer Wanderer Painting of a man with a walking stick, traversing rocky plains. An "overdressed hiker", one might say. Reference to Romantic painter Casper David Friedrich's Wanderer above the Sea of Fog.
File:Painting new 1x2 man.png 1x2 blocks
16x32 pixels
Graham Graham A small picture of King Graham, the player character in the King's Quest series.
File:Canvas 32 1.png 2x1 blocks
32x16 pixels
The pool Pool Some men and women skinny-dipping.
File:Canvas 32 2.png 2x1 blocks
32x16 pixels
Bonjour monsieur Courbet Courbet Two hikers with pointy beards.
File:Canvas 32 4.png 2x1 blocks
32x16 pixels
sunset_dense Sunset Painting of a view of mountains at sunset.
File:Canvas 32 3.png 2x1 blocks
32x16 pixels
Seaside Sea Painting of a view of mountains and a lake, with a small photo of a mountain and a plant on the window ledge.
Note: In Alpha, this painting has been replaced by the one below.
File:Painting new 2x1 table.png 2x1 blocks
32x16 pixels
Seaside Sea Painting of a view of mountains and a lake, with a small photo of a mountain and a plant with red dots on the window ledge.
File:Painting new 2x1 table creeper.png 2x1 blocks
32x16 pixels
Seaside Creebet Painting of a view of mountains and a lake, with a small photo of a mountain and a creeper looking at you through a window.
File:Canvas 32-2 1.png 2x2 blocks
32x32 pixels
Match Match A hand holding a match, causing pixelated fire.
File:Canvas 32-2 2.png 2x2 blocks
32x32 pixels
Bust Bust Painting of a statue surrounded by pixelated fire.
File:Canvas 32-2 3.png 2x2 blocks
32x32 pixels
The stage is set Stage Painting of scenery from Space Quest I, with the character Graham from King's Quest.
File:Canvas 32-2 4.png 2x2 blocks
32x32 pixels
The Void Void Painting of a pig eating a mushroom next to an angel praying into what appears to be a void with fire below.
File:Canvas 32-2 5.png 2x2 blocks
32x32 pixels
Moonlight Installation SkullAndRoses Painting of a skeleton at night with red flowers in the foreground.
File:Canvas 64 1.png 4x2 blocks
64x32 pixels
Fighters Fighters Two men poised to fight.
File:Painting new 4x3 skeleton.png 4x3 blocks
64x48 pixels
Mortal Coil Skeleton A painting of the "Mean Midget" from Grim Fandango. You can also think of it as a skeleton from Minecraft sitting in a seashell.
File:Painting new 4x3 building.png 4x3 blocks
64x48 pixels
Kong DonkeyKong A screenshot from the "Donkey Kong" game series.
File:Canvas 64 2.png 4x4 blocks
64x64 pixels
Pointer Pointer A small man fighting a large hand. Possibly a reference to the final boss on the Super Smash Bros series, "Master Hand."
File:Painting new 4x4 rider.png 4x4 blocks
64x64 pixels
RGB Pigscene Painting of a girl that is pointing to a pig on a canvas. In the original version, the canvas shows a red, green and blue block, representing the three colors of the RGB color model that is typically used by computer displays.
File:Flaming skull.png 4x4 blocks
64x64 pixels
Skull on Fire Flaming Skull A Skull on fire; in the background there is a moon in a night sky.

Bugs

  • It is possible to get two paintings from destroying one painting.
  • Used to be indestructible in SMP, only dropping "fake" paintings every hit, which could not be destroyed or picked up. This was fixed in Beta 1.2.
  • When a painting was placed it sometimes showed a four by four area of solid purple with darker purple between each block. This was because Notch forgot to update the painting texture for the Beta 1.2_01 build, when he added a new painting[1]. This was fixed in Beta 1.3.
  • A painting placed over a light source (like a Jack-O-Lantern) will allow the painting to act as a lamp-shade, lighting the room.
  • A painting can have a sign or another painting placed in the same block space (but on a different face), this is because a painting is an entity, so it technically does not take up the block it is in.
  • Paintings do not use the new Smooth Lighting option. When using Smooth Lighting, the painting will use the old lighting, despite the blocks around it.

References

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