Five places to admire street art with the family in Paris and its surroundings

Going to discover street art on the streets of Paris is like organising a visit to a museum. Art history, graphic techniques, notions of architecture: your children will learn a lot in a short time. What’s more, they will have the right to run and shout!

The Henri-IV tunnel, in Paris 4^my

There’s nothing like a little colour and art to transform an anxiety-inducing tunnel into a flying carpet to Tahiti. Contacted in 2023 by the city of Paris as part of Paris Plages with the Olympic and Paralympic Games of the summer of 2024 on the horizon, the Urban Art Crew collective, which promotes street art and graffiti in the capital, brought together artists Babs and Sarah Viault to create 800 metres of fresco in the Henri-IV tunnel, on the banks of the Seine. The artists chose to talk about the Pacific, its fauna and flora and the climate problems that threaten them. Each section of the wall thus tells a story and allows children to discuss issues such as consumption or ecological awakening. Renamed the “Paris Plage Papeete Tunnel”, the site will maintain the works after the Games. Entirely pedestrian, it can be accessed near the Sully-Morand (line 7) or Quai-de-la-Rapée (line 5) metro stations. Good news: a podcast produced by Urban Art Crew that tells the behind-the-scenes story of this project can enhance your underground stroll.

Boulevard Vincent-Auriol, Paris 13^my

Welcome to the Champs-Élysées of street art. Walking along the Boulevard Vincent-Auriol, which connects the Seine to Place d’Italie, is like getting lost in an open-air museum. The facades of the blocks built in the 1970s support very famous creations such as the Marianne de la Seine. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (2016), signed by the American artist Shepard Fairey, also known as Obey, or the mosaic Dr.’s House in the Casa Da of Invader, installed on a wall of the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital since 2016. This ambitious project has the support of the city council of 13^my district and the Itinerrance gallery since 2009. Around twenty of the fifty-five works are located around the National metro station, which is also an excellent starting point for a discovery walk. The frescoes are also visible from the aerial part of metro line 6, just to give you an idea. A family walk along the boulevard will also be offered on Sunday 22 September, as part of the Festival du Monde.

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