Barcelona is a hotspot for all up and coming graffiti artists, and the city is full of artistic creations born from spray paint and lain on walls.
Attracting street art enthusiasts from all around the world, discover some of the best works of art below…
The Best Street Art in Barcelona
Keith Haring @ MACBA Museum
If the name Keith Haring isn’t familiar, we guarantee that you’ll be familiar with this artist once you see his work around the city. His most famous piece is a mural painted near the Raval Quarter’s MACBA museum which seeks to highlight the importance of AIDS prevention, an illness that Haring himself suffered with during his lifetime and which he died from just a year after painting this design.
Did you know? The mural was transferred to a new wall on the occasion of its 25th anniversary in February 2014, in commemoration of Keith Haring.
Joan Miró Mural @ Carrer Sant Pau and Carrer de la Riereta
Another piece of street art reminiscent of a great artist lies deep within the city’s El Raval neighbourhood. Curious travellers can find a great mural composed by the artist Sixe Paredes in the style of Joan Miró. The mural was painted during the exhibition “From Miró to BCN” and to this day, it is one of the city’s most famous paintings.
Jardins de les 3 Xemeneies @ Avinguda Paraŀlel
On one of Barcelona’s biggest and busiest roads, Avinguda Paraŀlel in the Poble-Sec district, is a graffiti and skate park guaranteed to make all street art enthusiasts a little hot under the collar.
After previously registering online or on their phone, artists are free to add their work to the skate park, and immortalise their designs… well, until someone new paints over them, of course!
Axe Colours @ Gracia Neighbourhood
An artist who is making a name for himself throughout the city, Axe Colours mainly composes his work in Barcelona’s quirky Gracia district. His style takes that of a visual biographer, painting famous faces like Breaking Bad’s Walter White, Lionel Messi, and characters from the Game of Thrones series.
Due to Barcelona’s prohibition of street art on public walls, many artists have resorted to painting their designs on shop shutters… and Axe Colours is no exception. Therefore, you might need to wait until closing time to see some of his sensational pieces of work. But trust us, it’ll be worth it.
Kiss of Freedom @ Plaça d’Isidre Nonell
One of the most instagrammed images in the whole of Europe, The Kiss of Freedom- also called “The world begins with every kiss” – can be found near the Cathedral of Barcelona in the Gothic Quarter and consists of small individual ceramic tiles that can only be seen clearly on closer approach.
The photos on these tiles come from 4,000 readers of the Spanish newspaper ‘El Periódico’ who were asked which memories or moments gave them their own sense of freedom. Together, these memories form two kissing mouths which stretch for a total of 8 x 4 metres.
This beautiful piece was created in 2014 on the 300th anniversary of the fall of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Street Artists: El Xupet Negre
El Xupet Negre, the black pacifier, is one of the most important artists in the scene and is now one of the 50 most influential street artists of all time. His signature image of a child’s black dummy can be found throughout Barcelona, a city he has been decorating with his work since 1991.
The artist put his very first piece near the famous bar, Oro Negro (black gold), the place that also gave him his artistic trademark name. But why a dummy? According to the artist himself, his signature icon was born from the idea that we were all children once… Talk about a Peter Pan complex!
Street Artists: Onergizer Konair and Pez
As much as we love the work of El Xupet Negre, we love it even more when he collaborates with other artists in the city, particularly our favourites Konair (whose signature design is a cartoon ice cream) and Pez (who enjoys adding his childlike fish trademark to many of Barcelona’s walls).
Collaborations by these artists as well as their individual work can be found everywhere in Barcelona and without a doubt help to shape Barcelona’s already sensational cityscape.