Brunette Girl In The Old House With A Mirror

Painters depicting someone gazing into a mirror often also show the person's reflection. This is a kind of abstraction—in most cases the angle of view is such that the person's reflection should not be visible. Similarly, in movies and still photography an actor or actress is often shown obstensibly looking at him- or herself in the mirror, and yet the reflection faces the camera. In reality, the actor or actress sees only the camera and its operator in this case, not his own reflection.
The mirror is the central device in some of the greatest of European paintings:
• Édouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies Bergère