How to solve the Madison Picture Puzzle in the Attic

(Image credit: Bloodious Games)

The Madison Picture Puzzle in the attic has you placing portraits to add and subtract numbers based on getting them to equal 43, the age of Madison when she died. The trick is discovering what's written on the wall behind them to complete the sums, not to mention knowing where to find all the pictures is as difficult to do as anything else in Madison. Fortunately we'll explain how to find all the portraits below, as well as how you can use them to solve the Madison Picture Puzzle in the attic below.

Madison Picture Puzzle solution

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The Madison Picture Puzzle is solved by placing four portraits in the attic in the right spots. Each picture has a number attached to it corresponding to the age of the subject, as well as a number behind it that only shows up in photos when you take a snapshot of the faded section of the wall where the pictures are hung.

The goal of the puzzle is to place the pictures so that the ages of the people and the numbers on the wall either add or subtract to 43, the number visible through the crack in the attic. Like the Madison Clock Puzzle you'll probably reach this point before you have everything, and need to complete other puzzles first, although it's not as bad as the Madison lock code which you find almost as soon as you start playing and can't complete for hours. So let's cover the basic answer assuming you have all four pictures and then go over where to get them all just in case you don't. .

Where to put the pictures in the attic

Assuming you have all the pictures already (and if you don't, we'll explain below), place them in the following clockwise order, assuming the wall with 43 is the "top".

Albert (top right, 5+38)
Giovinna (bottom right, 56-13)
Filomina (bottom left, 68-25)
Pascual (top left, 10+33)

All these numbers either add or subtract to 43. Once you've assembled them all in place, look through the crack at the 43, the puzzle will be solved, opening a whole new area for you to suffer.

Where to get the pictures in Madison

The four pictures are essential to completing the puzzle, but to begin with you won't have all of them. Here's how to assemble the full set:

Albert (square picture): Already hanging in the attic, in the top left corner slot.
Giovinna (diamond picture): Also found in the attic, though it's on the ground and semi-concealed by shadow next to the iron bed frame in the bottom left corner.
Pascual (circular picture): Found in Grandpa's study on the wall opposite the green safe. To find the study, go through the door next to the TV and hanging antlers, and follow the eerie statue past the slide projector to the dead end. Pascual's portrait will be there.
Filomena (hexagonal picture): Found in Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom. You'll have to have acquired all the Solar Medallions for this one. You should already have one from when you found the generator, and the second appears when you complete the slide projector section. If you haven't got them both, just keep playing to find what you need. Once you have them both assemble them in the mechanism in the bathroom attached to Gramp's bedroom. This'll open the closet - use the hammer to pry off the boards blocking access and the picture is inside.

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.