Photographs and Portraits
The photographs and portraits in the world of wizards are not stationary like in the Muggle world. They move around within the frame and from one portrait to another, and are also able to talk. A portrait of the Fat Lady is used in Hogwarts to cover the door to the Gryffindor common room and opens only when she is given the password. Also, there are various paintings of old Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts in Dumbledore's office, and he is shown to be in discussion with them from time to time. He also uses the portrait of Phineas Nigellus, Sirius Black's great grandfather, to communicate with Sirius and to keep a watch at the Order's Headquarters through another portrait of Phineas in the house. The headmaster portraits are special, not simply due to the fact that they appear in them because of their death. The reason for this is that part of their soul stays behind in their portrait.
Read more about this topic: The Sorting Hat
Famous quotes containing the words photographs and/or portraits:
“As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of space in which they are insecure.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“I never can pass by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York without thinking of it not as a gallery of living portraits but as a cemetery of tax-deductible wealth.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)