Most paintings are intended to be hung in a precise orientation, defining an upper part and a lower part. Some paintings are displayed upside-down, sometimes by mistake since the image does not represent an easily recognizable oriented subject and lacks a signature, or by a deliberate decision of the exhibitor.

Some works display rotational symmetry or are ambiguous figures that allow both orientations to be meaningful. Giuseppe Arcimboldo painted several works that are still lifes in one orientation and related portraits in the other.