Haas Mural Byham Theater Exterior

In 1993, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust selected the renowned American muralist Richard Haas as the designer of the Haas Mural, which pays homage to Pittsburgh’s steel industry. Richard Haas is best known for architectural murals and his use of the Trompe l'oeil style— an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three-dimensions, instead of actually being a two-dimensional painting. The Haas Mural is painted on the Fort Duquesne Boulevard façade of the Byham Theater. The mural integrates the Byham Theater's doors and windows to create a visual experience. In a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette interview, Mr. Haas called the mural "one of the most complicated façades I've done."