Man falls 8 ft after mistaking realistic-looking painting for fake hole

An Italian man found out the hard way that a very realistic-looking painting of a black hole was, in fact, an actual hole.

This after he tumbled eight feet down into the art installation at a Portuguese museum.

The piece, called Descent Into Limbo, features a hole, covered on all sides with extremely black paint, to give the illusion that it has no depth at all. It was created by artist Anish Kapoor who is known for, among other things, Cloud Gate in Chicago (also known as The Bean).

The museum says there are a number of warnings, telling visitors the hole is real and not to step on it but there are no ropes.

Fortunately, the man who tested out the art is going to be okay.

He's now at home recovering from a back injury.

WLS-TV contributed to this report.