Paris street art
There is a lot of graffiti and art on the buildings, bridges, and walls of Paris. Sometimes it stops you in your tracks with it’s beauty, or perhaps it’s bizarreness and sometimes it is the sheer wonder of how the heck someone put that, there? More often than not though, for me, the street art is background music as I move through my day.
Sophia adores her school English teacher and I am now a big fan of hers too. She gave the class an assignment to find examples of street art in Paris that may or may not have a political message. Sophia could have walked out the door of our apartment and found five to ten examples of various tags and murals: it would have taken all of 15 minutes to get some photos and complete the assignment. However, we have been intrigued by the street art since we arrived in Paris and this was a fantastic excuse to dive more deeply into it. We turned the assignment into a Sunday afternoon adventure and ending up having one of my favorite days in Paris.
Looking for guidance, we went online and found articles written about the best spots to spot street art. There is an organization called Street Art Paris offering guided tours to those interested in gaining a better understanding of the graffiti scene. While it was too late to book a tour in time to complete the school assignment, I have added it to our Paris bucket list. We learned the names of some of the famous street artists in Paris such as Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Mosko et associés and Kashink and got the point where we might be able to recognize their work if we came across it.
We have been fascinated by the pixelated images we spot all over Paris that look like little space invaders. They are sometimes in the most difficult to reach and obscure spots and the girls love to point them out on our travels. We learned that they are the creation of an anonymous artist who goes by the name Invader and the images are indeed inspired by 1970s and 1980s video games. We thought we had made a unique and niche discovery but have since learned that Invader has created more than 1,000 mosaics in Paris alone and has done installations in 77 other countries around the world. In fact, his work is so well known that, in Paris, there are instances of his art being stolen and reportedly resold.
We could easily have the spent the day doing online research, following links and watching videos featuring different artists but decided that the point of all of this was to actually be on the street. Knowing that there were many places we could go, Sophia and I decided to take a metro across town to the 11th arrondissement.
Our first stop was Le Mur, a former commercial advertising space that had been targeted by graffiti many times over. The owner finally decided to donate the space to the city of Paris and now it is an association-coordinated showcase of street art. A new artist is invited to take over the space about every two weeks, covering over the art that is already there with a new creation. We saw the 275th iteration of the wall and plan to come back one day to watch a new installation in progress.
Another happy discovery was PNY Burger where we stopped in for lunch. Sophia misses burgers from home but we may have found a solution to her problem. The burger we had was one of the best we’ve had in Paris and they also had excellent fries and pancakes on the menu, which we noted but did not try. We initially said no to dessert but when the table across from us ordered oreo milkshakes we decided we needed to try one too. It was the right call: the milkshake was delicious and Sophia had me take photos so she could incite some jealously from her sister at home.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering and looking for art that we liked. Sophia took over the camera and captured some of her favorites. We think we saw some examples of the known names in the street art world but as we are newbies we cannot be sure. The signatures are not always evident especially when the installations tower above our heads. We wandered and weaved our way from the 11th to the 20th arrondissements finding cute cafés, flower shops and bookstores along the way. The sun was out and the streets were not busy as we were off the beaten tourist path.
Without a doubt, my very favorite way to explore Paris is on foot, with a very loose agenda and time to get lost. The city is overwhelming in its richness and there is always something to see, big or small, that will take your breath away. Family explorations are different from when Houman and I get to go out on our own. Heading out with “the girls” offers its own joys and when I have just Sophia or Mavis to myself it is again a completely different and magical experience. I love them all, including when I head out solo. Whether the motivation is street art, a great burger, a read-about green space or a historical monument, the gift is that it gets us out the door and opens us up to discovery. They say it is not the destination; it’s the journey and based on my favorite days in Paris thus far, I agree.
P.S. Here are some other loved street art and graffiti images we have collected from our time in here.
