Fear of big paintings

[WereBear]

When I was a child, my grandparents had big painting reproductions all over the place. Which scared the flip out of me. They also had tons of the 1950's motion lamps which scared me even more. I would throw a towel over one if I had to be in the room with it; I could not look at it.

When the light was on, a baffle inside would turn and the scene would flicker, adding realism. I was so upset about that poor bear!

My grandparent's decor was particularly upsetting, but I also got the same overwhelming feelings and disorientation from standing near murals and the like. Giant paintings continue to be a thing even now, in my adulthood. Almost like I am being sucked into it.

Now I know this is sensory-related, the way my brain is wired. At the time, I thought my grandparent's place was haunted

 

[Momo]

My Nan has a creepy porcelain doll collection in glass cases that line the walls of almost every room in her house. To say I had trouble sleeping with all those dead eyes watching me all night is an understatement. I seriously don't know why anybody would collect those! They give me the heebie jeebies!

 

[Jet Weiss]

There used to be a painting in my old house that scared the crap out of me. It was just a vase of red flowers, but I thought it was evil!
My dad told me I sounded psychotic.
I was never able to figure out why the painting frightened me, though as you said, I assume it was sensory-related as well.
I always wanted my parents to take the painting down and shove it under their bed.

 

[Judge]

Normally if I see a place with lots of big and nicely framed pictures I think of it as a sign of affluence.

Unless of course they're all classic works of art everyone knows....like "Blue Boy".

 

[OlLiE]

my grandmother had a painting of what i thought was a scary clown, still remember it vividly

 

[Katleya]

To say I'm not a fan of paintings that depict people looking at "the live audience" would be a strong understatement.
I was also terrified of a few rather small paintings of scenes that felt scary to me, when really there was nothing in particular about them, but just the thought of walking in front of them was very upsetting.

 

[WereBear]

my grandmother had a painting of what i thought was a scary clown, still remember it vividly

I find clowns to be very scary.

 

[AdultAspie69]

Statues scare me, especially of people. Expect them to move at any second. Photos of people's faces looking at me, stuffed animals/figurines

 

[Karen S.]

Statues scare me, especially of people. Expect them to move at any second. Photos of people's faces looking at me, stuffed animals/figurines

I would advise you to avoid The Venetian Casino in Las Vegas, they have "Living Statues", actors ( like Mimes) that are dressed up like statues and move ever so slowly. I suppose they must have them in Venice, Italy as well!

 

[ladybug]

I've always enjoyed the museums in my city..... but recently we visited (as Aspie and I found out we had this in common)... but they've changed it all around... to be different.... all the categories are all jumbled up... favourite pictures, have been moved and new collections created with the items that should be where they were....! I found this very stressful and he nearly flipped out made him very agitated.... I've never realised how much I like things to be the same... and am not a fan with change for change sake...

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

When I was a child, my grandparents had big painting reproductions all over the place. Which scared the flip out of me. They also had tons of the 1950's motion lamps which scared me even more. I would throw a towel over one if I had to be in the room with it; I could not look at it.

View attachment 35508
When the light was on, a baffle inside would turn and the scene would flicker, adding realism. I was so upset about that poor bear!

My grandparent's decor was particularly upsetting, but I also got the same overwhelming feelings and disorientation from standing near murals and the like. Giant paintings continue to be a thing even now, in my adulthood. Almost like I am being sucked into it.

Now I know this is sensory-related, the way my brain is wired. At the time, I thought my grandparent's place was haunted

Fear of big paintings is definitely my favorite fear,now that I've heard of it
sportaldislexicartaphobia is just the fear of paintings, not big paintings.
I always used to like those lists of fears .. triskadekophobia (13,from memory)

Also reminds me of the Childrens program the Box of Delights. Patrick Troughton walks into a picture to escape.

No Clowns involved.

 

[redpanda8666]

In The Chronicles of Narnia (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) the children get sucked into a giant painting.

I am fine with most paintings and images but also find most clowns creepy. I don't want any clowns adorning my walls.

 

[Sherlock77]

In most cases, if there is a painting or photograph of a person, especially if mostly a head shot, it is overwhelming to paint it or print it too big, a very large piece of artwork is best if it's more of a landscape and broader scene, this is true for anyone, not just Aspies...

 

[WereBear]

In most cases, if there is a painting or photograph of a person, especially if mostly a head shot, it is overwhelming to paint it or print it too big, a very large piece of artwork is best if it's more of a landscape and broader scene, this is true for anyone, not just Aspies...

Though I would suggest Aspies feel it more, as we so often do.

 

[fairy_girl]

Dolls in groups used to freak me out, it just seems like they were watching your ever move. I love looking at art but any large artwork where I have to crane my neck to see just hurts my eyes to try to focus on it fully. I tend to avoid the "living statue" people just because they creep me out and they are basically panhandlers dressed up.

 

[Bella Pines]

I never thought about it but yes, definitely. I went to a gallery a few weeks ago and there were some enormous paintings, like 5 times taller than me with life sized people. I stopped and stared for a while but had to back away. I think there was a part of me that was scared of falling in or something. I didn't really think about it at the time but maybe another magical aspie trait....

 

[GrownupGirl]

When I was really young my parents had a large painting of a sailing ship on black velvet on their bedroom wall. I wasn't afraid if it, but I noticed that when I looked at it closely the waves around the ship looked like people or ghosts, or maybe people who had fallen overboard and were drowning.

 

[Mary Anne]

Dolls in groups used to freak me out, it just seems like they were watching your ever move. I love looking at art but any large artwork where I have to crane my neck to see just hurts my eyes to try to focus on it fully. I tend to avoid the "living statue" people just because they creep me out and they are basically panhandlers dressed up.

Never thought of performance artists as “just panhandlers.” How sad.