Not to Miss: Street Art in Paris

Paris is a city that is home to not only the best in classical and impressionist art, but also remarkable street art.

First-time visitors to Paris always have the same iconic landmarks at the top of their list: the Eiffel Tower. The Arch of Triumph. The Louvre. The Champs-Elysées. The Palais Garnier.

Of course, if it is your first trip to Paris, you will want to see these well-loved places.

But do yourself a favor and get photos that so many tourists will pass right by. Explore the amazing world of Paris street art.

My observations began with an indoor exhibition, which awakened me to an incredible outdoor “museum” of art displayed throughout the streets of Paris. Tim Ward has it right when he states, “In Paris every freshly-painted exterior wall is a blank canvas just waiting to be transformed into a work of beauty, an act of rebellion.”

Capitale(s)

Paris has such a history of street art that a giant exhibit commemorating 60 years of the art form was displayed for free in the Hôtel de Ville de Paris in 2022–2023. Entitled “Capitale(s): 60 Years of Urban Art in Paris,” the exhibit featured the works of 70+ artists including Banksy, Invader, and Bando.

I have to admit, I wasn’t really interested until friends started telling me how amazing it was. Well, it was free and less than a 10-minute walk from my apartment on Ile Saint-Louis, so I figured I would check it out.

So glad I did. The show helped me understand how complex and challenging the art form is, combining not only examples of street art, but also videos of artists in action. I could hardly believe the incredible talent I watched on these videos. And I learned about how lots of street art is making a social statement. I teach human rights and social justice, so I guess it was about time that I recognized this form of civil disobedience.

It also got me to pay attention as I walked the streets of Paris. Suddenly, I was seeing art everywhere!

Given that graffiti is not completely legal, I was amused to find an interactive display at the end of the exhibit that encouraged children to create their own street art on a monitor. For me, this is just a part of the joie de vivre of living in Paris: it may not be law-abiding, but if it’s not hurting anyone — and especially if it’s art — we’ll do it anyway. Given that street artists can still be arrested as vandals, it was ironic and impressive that the city honored their work and was visited by about 50,000 people each month that it was open.

860 Metres of Street Art

All good exhibits come to an end, and Capitale is now over. But that was really just an indoor introduction to the street art you can find all over Paris.

A great place to start is in the Tuileries Tunnel, where street art was commissioned by the city of Paris to cover the whole length of the tunnel in 2022. Information about the artists varies, from eight-twelve artists and French to international. Then, of course, on top of some of the commissioned art, other graffiti has overlain the originals. As such, the tunnel is something of a continuous work in progress.

My friend Barb and I discovered it quite by accident when taking our usual Thursday morning walk along the Seine to our French immersion class. We typically walk the banks of the Seine to avoid the heavier traffic of tourists and cars at street level, but this particular day, a part of the bank walk was cordoned off where the tunnel begins.

We looked at each other with the question, “Do we really want to walk through that tunnel?” not knowing what we would find, but certainly aware of the strong scent of urine at its opening. We ended up thrilled that we were brave. We were amazed and delighted by the beautiful color and light that covered the walls.

Information indicates that the work will be available through the end of Summer 2023. However, given the way in which it has provided new life and beauty to a once-dingy tunnel, many of us hope that it will be available to visitors to the 2024 Olympics and well beyond. You can access it by walking down the steps at Pont Neuf.

Self-Guided Street Art Tours

Given the amount of street art available in Paris, numerous guidebooks have been written to help fans walk through the best areas. My favorite (and no, I don’t get a cut for saying this) is Lombard’s Street Art Guide to Paris. It’s reasonably priced and small enough to carry with you as you make your way through the 10 guided walks suggested by the author. Each route contains a map, photos of the artwork, information about the artists, and helpful information on cafes and bookstores en route. It has been a great help to me as I have looked to discover more Parisian urban art.

In the Marais, one of my favorite places is Stravinsky Square, just down from the Pompidou Centre, which houses modern art. Next to the 16th century Church of Saint-Merri, the square is a wonderful mixture of old and new, with the famous fountain from the 1980s and Shhh! urban artwork by Jef Aérosol from 2011.

The Bears of Paris

So, are the teddy bears of the Gobelins “street art”? They have migrated far beyond the 13th arrondissement and bookstore at 25 Avenue des Gobelins where they had their beginning. I don’t know that the bears themselves can be considered art. But perhaps the ways in which cafes and shopkeepers display them can be. Now you can find them sipping limonade at outdoor café tables and waving from the windows of hotels. Certainly, they bring joy and smiles to those who pay attention!

Art Festivals on the Streets of Paris

What could be better than live art on the streets of a city? Paris offers so much in terms of free outdoor artwork. In early June my good friend Sharon and I walked such a small part of the city for Nuit Blanche, an outdoor Parisian celebration of the arts. In a few short hours, we enjoyed free opera along the Seine, orchestral music at the Institut National de France, choral music on the Pont de la Tournelle, live Latin music in the Marais, and outdoor public artwork being created at the Centre Pompidou.

I am a dancer, and I certainly consider dance to be an art. During warm months in Paris, anyone can enjoy the opportunity to dance swing, salsa, and tango along the Left Bank of the Seine just east of Ile Saint-Louis.

From La Joconde to Invaders

Does anyone remember the 1978 arcade game, Space Invaders? I was never a gamer myself, so I was surprised to learn about how this game was taken to a new level in the form of ceramic street art by Franck Slama, known as “Invader.” In 1998 he began placing these characters on buildings throughout Paris, eventually placing and cataloguing over 3,700 pieces in 78 cities internationally.

Most of the Invaders are in Paris, at 1,475 images. The Capitale(s) exhibit displayed a map of where they are all located, which I suspect can now be purchased. Many of my friends love to search for them and capture them using the Flashinvaders app on their phones. It’s a fun way to be especially observant as you walk Parisian streets, and if you’re traveling with children, it will keep them amused and attentive to the sights, so much better than having them lagging along and texting on their phones.

If you will be traveling to Paris soon, remember that there is so much more artwork in the city besides La Joconde (the Mona Lisa). Sure, take in the stunning artwork in the Louvre and the best of French Impressionism in the d’Orsay, Orangerie, and Monet Marmottan. But be aware that once you leave those galleries, there is art everywhere in the city. Enjoy the skill of the urban artists throughout the streets of Paris.

NOTES:

I enjoyed writing this article as part of the Globetrotter’s August challenge.

I LOVED the article and images in Jillian Amatt’s kickoff to the August Street Art challenge, and have seen many of the places she mentions. I also love the topic, as I just got interested in it during my fall-winter stay in Paris, 2022, when I started to learn more about urban artwork in the city.

An aside to Jennifer Thompson, who wrote a piece on Paris that so resonates with me about rediscovering your passion in life: check out the street art! And let me know if you’ll be back in Paris this fall. I’d love to meet you! Your piece about finding yourself again in Paris and discovering a writer’s life was powerful.

Thanks to Tim Ward for his insightful article on the street art of Paris.