Travel Portugal - Street Art in Seven Areas of Lisbon

Lissabon, the old seafaring town, is seemingly everybody’s favourite European capital right now. Visitors find lots of history, cafes, restaurants, museums, beaches as well as incredible street art.

 

If we hear Lisbon, we firstly think of the Fado, a song that is in most cases performed by a solo singer, accompanied by a guitar. The multicultural mix of Afro-Brazilian music and local, rural and urban song of the early nineteenth century creates a feeling of yearning and of lost love. It is passionate, emotional and should, in any case, be part of your soundtrack to a trip to Lisbon. The Unesco, who protects arts and traditions of the world, even listed the Fado as Intangible Heritage.

I walked 30 kilometres plus through Lisbon, and saw so much of town. Stations included: the Escalator Santa Justa, the Eden Teatro, the Glória Elevator, São Pedro de Alcântara, Bairro Alto during the day, Embaixada, Principe Real Garden, Bertrand, Cais do Sodre, the Praça São Paulo, the Ribeira das Naus, the Arco da Rua Augusta, the Church of St Anthony, the Lisbon Cathedral, the Resistance Museum, the Miradouro de Santa Luzia, Alfama, the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora, Café da Garagem, the Bica Elevator, the Igreja Paroquial das Mercês, the Assembly of the Republic - São Bento Palace, Lapa, Santos, the National Museum of Ancient Art, and the Metro Baixa Chiado Station. Read the full guide here: Travel Portugal. Complete Walking Guide to the Capital Lisbon.

Lisbon stretches over seven hills; you will not only stroll over beautiful but sometimes uneven cobblestones but also have to climb the one or other flight of stairs. You can guess it already, it makes sense to wear comfortable shoes.

Along the way, I found clever small and many impressive large pieces of street art. Some are fun pieces that spread a positive vibe, and often they carry a political message. Lisbon is a big playground for street artists and people who love to look at street art, there is an abundance of colour and poetry. Walking around town, we can think about all these artworks and motifs of the artists. Street art mirrors our times. Make it a habit to explore this art form on city trips, and at home, to not miss out. Familiarize yourself with street art, look closely; you soon start to see the many stories that unfold in front of your eyes. With street art you never know, it might be there today but gone tomorrow. Appreciate the moment and enjoy it while it is there in a public space.

Street Art in the Lisbon Borough of Alfama

Canadian feminist street artist MissMe wheatpastes powerful messages. She explores her own struggles with race, gender, society, and class, while her artistic work supports women in their role as essential members of the local community. Her main character is a woman wearing a Micky Mouse balaclava.

French artists LAS GATAS make towns beautiful armed with glue and paper. Their leading lady is a cat woman.

Pura.Poesia is a street artist from Portugal.

Brazilian artist Tami Hopf works with tattoo machines and paints wall murals. Her drawings are a mix of joy and sorrow, euphoria and loneliness and address life, love and the paradoxical relation between human beings and nature. In Lisbon she painted Lisa during a contemporary arts festival.

Street Art around the Gloria Funicular

French artist Guate Mao paints portraits of people from different ethnic groups from all over the world. You can find his art in the streets of European towns.

In works by Brazilian artist Utopia the mix of colours and materials results in striking pieces.

Street Art in the Lisbon Borough of Bairro Alto

Note to photo in the middle row on the right: After more than 40 years of dictatorship, a peaceful coup overthrows the government. As officers occupied Lisbon with tanks, they were given red carnations by the locals. Today these are a symbol of the rebellion against the authoritarian dictatorship. 

Brazilian artists The MUDA Collective sees the city as a laboratory. The group ‘intrudes’ public spaces with pragmatic installations, whereas each piece of art is site specific. They use polished tiles as a contrast to degraded areas the find in towns, thus highlighting forgotten or devalued spaces. Their work can be found in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, New York, Buenos Aires, Havana, Florence, Rome, Lisbon, Sintra, Porto and Guimarães.

This Portuguese artist behind Thismanthiswoman draws in cafés, and glues on the streets of Lisbon. For her work Have you seen this man? Have you seen this woman? she portraits everybody she meets (or so it seems). You can buy her posters online as well as handmade tote bags.

Street Art in the Lisbon Borough of Cais do Sodre

BASTA is a street artist from Lisbon and you can find his dogs all over town.

Street Art in the Lisbon Borough of Chiado

French artist Mast Cora draws abstract illustrations of foxes, houses, birds, plants, trees, clouds and creates small worlds that allow you to daydream. He is also a tattoo artist and decorates interior walls.

DrawingJesus is a street artist from Lisbon.

Street Art around the São Jorge Castle

Pang’s work can be found in London, Rome, Paris, Vienna, Palermo, Marrakech, Ibiza, Seville, Poznan and Lisbon. Her works of art explore themes of psychology, mass social behaviour and the human condition.

Portuguese artist AkaCorleone blends colours, typography, characters and forms to create crowd-pulling works of art. KLM asked him and Dutch visual artist Hedof to create a mural illustrating the flight connection between Amsterdam and Lisbon (art seen from the Castle area). His work can be found in Portugal, The Netherlands, Hungary, Philippines, Thailand, and Great Britain.

 

From Berlin with love