12 Apr 15 street art pieces around the neighbourhood

Lisbon is an open-air gallery. Not just for its tile-covered façades, the traditional cobblestone designs and all the majestic historic monuments but also for its street art. Nowadays, cities are covered with all kinds of street art – and we are lucky enough to admit that Lisbon has more than its fair of really good ones. 

It all boomed after the times of dictature, when Portugal lived in a misery and decadency atmosphere that only ended with the revolution of April 25th, 1974. Since then, as a movement of freedom, Lisbon has established an active role for public art and urban renewal – today, the art of graffiti is even sponsored by the City Council. What started from political murals has now become a never ending universe of themes, artists and techniques.

We could show you all at once, instead with decided to focus on 15 street art pieces located around our neighbourhood – inviting you for a walk around Baixa, Alfama, Graça.

Meet the artists and pieces bellow, check the map and the numbers next to each artist’s piece and go for a walk!

Ps: Since street art is constantly evolving you might find more than the artists and pieces listed below. Have in mind that many more street Art can be found in Lisbon, in locations like Amadora, Marvila, Chelas, Alcântara, Bairro Alto and many many more neighbourhoods.

Photo credits: 1. via stick2target.com 2. Bruno Lopes 3. Underdogs & Miguel Vinagre 4. Jon Furlong 5. Miguel Portelinha 6. via Lisbon Lux 7. Jon Furlong 8. Via Gau 9. via Lisbon Lux 10.Underdogs 11. Zof / Creative Film Productiondefault 12. via hopfstudio.com 13. via timeout.pt 14. Our lens 15. Underdogs

By Vhils

A portuguese artist that has been interacting visually with the urban environment since his days as a prolific graffiti writer in the early- to mid-2000s. Bas-relief carving, is what is mainly known for. 

1. One of the first faces that he carved in Lisbon is hidden on Travessa das Merceeiras, just a few steps from the Memmo Alfama Hotel.

2. To pay tribute to the iconic Fado singer Amália Rodrigues, Vhils used the traditional cobblestone pavement to create a mural the, the Calçada do Menino de Deus.

3. This piece was created by Vhils and Pixel Pancho to join the Underdogs Gallery’s movement to empower street art. 

4. This last piece by Vhils on our walk is the result of a collab piece with Shepard Fairey – also listed here.

By Bordalo II

Combining painting and sculpture, Bordalo II uses old tires, bumpers, computer parts, and other discarded stuff to create three-dimensional animals, demonstrating that one man’s trash is another man’s art. 

5. Although many trash animals are hidden around Lisbon, these pelicans are located on the corner between Rua de Santa Justa and Rua de Carmo.

By João Maurício

João Maurício, aka Violant, is a creator which work shows metaphoric themes mainly related to social causes (climate change, animal cruelty and many more). 

6. This specific masterpiece can be found on Rua Natália Correia. 

By Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey is the American artist known for the famous Barack Obama “Hope” and Obey posters. He is also know in Portugal for a collab with Vhils (number 4. in this list)

7. Shepard chose Lisbon to illustrate a woman holding a gun with a flower in the barrel. This piece is also located at Rua Natália Correia.

By Tamara Alves

8. An old building on Largo do Intendente now features a piece by Tamara Alves, one of the best-known female Portuguese artists in the street art world, known for eroticly depicting contemporary body and “the effects of its own limits expanded”.

By Andrea Tarli 

9. This piece was created in July of 2016 by the Italian Andrea Tarli, an artist defending its ideas and giving voice to those in need . It is located at Largo da Achada.

By AkaCorleone

Akacorleone, or Pedro Campiche, is a Portuguese and Swiss visual artist who started his artistic path as a graffiti writer in the underworld of his native Lisbon. He was once a graphic designer and eventually decided to become a creative freelance illustrator, to complement the development of his artistic career.

Today, he is known for his bold compositions blending strong colors with typography, characters and forms.

10. This piece “desassossego”, inspired in the famous Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa, can be found at Rua Damasceno Monteiro.

11. At Campo Mártires da Pátria and by “the need of doing something different”, the piece Balance was illustrated, bringing a bit of New York to Lisbon.

By Tami Hopf

12. On a building on Calcadinha da Figueira, there is ‘Lisa’, piece was created during Paratissima, a contemporary art festival in 2016. Made by the brasilian artist Tami Hopf, whose work is mostly  a combination of “joy and sorrow, euphoria and loneliness” (Tami Hopf).

By Nuno Saraiva

13.  Promoted by Movimento dos Amigos de São Cristóvão, the mural Fado Vadio is located between Baixa and the castle, the artists drew Maria Severa (legendary fado signer from the XIX), Fernando Maurícia (the king without a crown of street Fado) and the Priest Edgar (charismatic figure of the neighbourhood).

14. At Travessa da Mata is his work inspired by Étienne-Jules Marey’s horses, one of the pionners of animation cinema. Showcasing the post horses, as if they were running around the Correio-Velho Palace, place managing the correspondence of the kingdom until XIX century.

By Add Fuel

Add Fuel, or Diogo Machado, first work in design studios in Portugal and Germany to then dedicate is time exclusively to his artistic work. First dark yet exuberant, he later redirected his focus to reinterpreting the language of traditional tile design, the portuguese one – azulezo – in particular. His compositions include  symmetrical repetitions, multiple layers and techniques of visual illusion allowing multiple interpretations expressing “a sophisticated dialogue between the old and the new, between heritage and modernity.”

15. This mural, Adapta, inspired in the Portuguese azulejos, works on the transition from the old to the new, the blue to the green of its neighbour building, and the creation of patterns making the two buildings look closer.