From 16 March to 22 May, the temporary exhibition hall (ground floor) of the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum will be home to 57 works that best represent a pictorial technique that deceives the eye by playing with architectural environments, perspective, shading, and other optical effects.

With the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sport, this review looks at the history of this pictorial concept, which stretches from the 15th to the 20th century. However, the exhibition space has been arranged by subjects and scenarios, regardless of the works’ date of creation, in order to glimpse the evolution of each style.

The different sections are: Staging, focusing on still life paintings; Figures, frames and limits, on deception through the painted frame; Nooks for the curious, with objects that confound the spectator; Boards, walls, and shelves, scenarios with elements that express the artist's expertise; Perfect disorder, corners and quodlibet (subgenres of the trompe l'oeil); Call to the senses, pieces themed around sculptures and flowers; American renewal, dedicated to American authors who renewed the genre such as Harnet or Peto; and Deceiving appearances, with canvases displaying great technical skill and imagination that will astound the observer.

The compositions on display are on loan from art galleries such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archeologie in Besançon (France), the Hispanic Society of America and the MET in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao, and the San Carlos Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia, among others.

Image Credits:

• Christoffel Pierson. Aparejos de cetrería en un nicho. circa 1660-1670. Oil on board, 80,5 x 64,5 cm. Washington, National Gallery of Art. Patrons’ Permanent Fund, inv. 2003.39.1. Image: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
• Samuel van Hoogstraten. Bodegón en trampantojo. 1666-1678. Oil on board, 63 x 79 cm. Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle. Crédito fotográfico: (c) Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle
• Giuseppe Arcimboldo. La tierra. circa 1570. Oil on board, 70 x 49 cm. Viena-Vaduz, Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections. Image Credit: © Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections, Vaduz-Vienna
• Jan van Eyck. Diptych of the Annunciation circa 1433 - 1435. Oil on board. Left panel (the archangel St. Gabriel): 38.8 x 23.2 cm; right panel (the Virgin Mary): 39 x 24 cm. Thyssen - Bornemisza National Museum