Tile murals are one of the oldest forms of art. The earliest large-scale murals were akin to cave paintings — rock art and carvings left by ancient South American and Egyptian civilisations can still be seen inside buildings today, revealing religious themes as well as scenes of everyday life.

In the Middle Ages, the rise of the church showed its power and riches with commissioned works of art, most depicting biblical images. The most famous include the Creation on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s Last Judgment.

The Commercial Era: 19th and 20th Centuries

In the 19th and 20th centuries, stunning glazed tile murals were used as advertisements, giving them real commercial interest for the first time. Technology advanced rapidly in the 1970s, when murals began to be mass-produced on wallpaper, tiles and canvas. Custom tile murals arrived with life-sized photographic images, bringing a natural, immersive look into the living room.

In the early 1990s, faux painting developed and fascinated homeowners, who invited painters into their homes to design ceramic tile murals by hand.

Tile Murals Today

Indoor ceramic tile murals can carry any outdoor scene — turning a room into a jungle, a mountaintop or a Roman bath — while the rest of the home is harmonised around their colour. Murals are also used to create faux finishes such as brick, adobe, marble, wood or white Greek plaster, a technique restaurants often choose to build a theme inside and out.

Modern tile murals are digitally printed and kiln fired, making the image a permanent part of the glaze. Any photograph, artwork or design can become tiles murals for walls, splashbacks, bathrooms and swimming pools — see our custom tile murals service for how murals on tiles are made to order today, or browse the gallery for finished projects.