By Lucy Stubbs
In a quiet back street in Périgueux, the capital of the Dordogne, stands the musée du trompe l’oeil. Trompe l’oeil means “a trick of the eye” and the paintings work by creating the illusion that what you see before you really exists.
As you reach the entrance to the museum, it is already hard to tell what is real and what is not. The front door, deliberately left shut to tease visitors, appears to be an ornate wood panelled door. You approach it, imagining it will need a good push to discover that it is entirely illusory; only the handle is as it first appeared.
Once inside, the tour guide smiles knowingly as visitors approach objects such as artists’ easels, notice boards and tiled walls then waits for the cries of disbelief as visitors realise they have been fooled.
Anne-Marie Cherrier, a distinguished artist whose works include a number of frescoes in Bordeaux chateaux, opened the museum, the only one of its kind in Europe, in 2002.
She said: “I’m passionate about the art of trompe l’oeil and wanted to share it with others. I was lucky to find good artists prepared to show their work here.”
So keen is Ms Cherrier to share her skills, she runs intensive five-day courses in her workshop to teach others the technique. Students from as far afield as Sweden and the US have visited to learn the craft.
Trompe l’oeil has been around since ancient Greece and flourished in Roman times where it was used to create the illusion of space and a sense of greater opulence in Roman villas.
In Pompeii a trompe l’oeil window looked out over a courtyard and a complex though entirely illusory mosaic floor.
Although the art form disappeared during the dark ages, it was later revived by Italian artists who found it a useful technique for making churches appear bigger and therefore more magnificent.
Dutch artists embraced it in the 17th century and it is said they created trompe l’oeil easels in prominent positions in their studios to give the impression they were hard at work.
In reality, they were often out or using false easels to conceal their real projects from rival artists.
The fashion for paintings and murals spread across Europe but it remains a mystery as to why today it is universally described using the French term.
At the musée du trompe l’oeil, the secret of the deception is revealed. “It’s all a question of geometry,” the guide said. A horizontal line across the canvas at average adult eye height and then a piece of string is dropped down midway. “This point is called the vanishing point" the guide added. For the illusion to work, everything else in the picture must line up with this point.
Despite technological advances, it seems trompe l’oeil is still capturing our imaginations. Over the last 15 years, interior designers have reported big increases in customers wanting trompe l’oeil effects.
Artist and interior designer Graham Goodbody, of Painted Creations in Nice, said: “Views through open windows and doors are popular as they give the illusion of space and light but we've also done exteriors like painting flowers and trellises onto walls.”
Other projects have included painting a mansion’s walls to create the illusion it was made of gold.
Large murals on the sides of buildings are known as urban trompe l’oeil and are becoming increasingly popular. Lyon is France’s trompe l’oeil capital as it has more than 60 installations, including the Mur des Canuts in the main picture.
Aïcha Bezzayer, from Cité Création, a cooperative of 50 artists specialising in producing large scale trompe l’oeil and frescoes, said: "This year we'll complete 31 frescoes and trompe l’oeil. We produce trompe l’oeil around the world but we have a workshop in Lyon and ever since we started in 1978, our work has been very popular here.”
The technique has been widely used in Paris to disguise extensive building work or to show the public how a project will look when completed. Famous department store Printemps had its façade clothed in a 170m trompe l’oeil of the store to conceal renovation work. It even included reflections of other buildings in its windows.
Elsewhere in the city a Dali-esque trompe l’oeil façade in Avenue George V attracted world wide attention.
The world of fashion is catching on, too, with the current vogue for body painting, first popularised by Demi Moore in 1992 on the front cover of Vanity Fair where she appeared, from a distance, to be wearing a suit and tie.
Today's less radical fashion includes ranges by designers such as Louis Vuitton, Comme des Garçons, Nina Ricci and Chanel.
For details of other sites in France, try the website www.trompe-l-oeil.info which pinpoints murals from all over the country
Photo: The Mur des Canuts in Lyon by Claude Fézoui
