Street art has deep roots in the city of Berlin. When it was divided in two, the wall in West Berlin was a blank canvas for the beliefs and thoughts of counterculture types and immigrants who were settling there. After the Berlin Wall fell, the street art scene spread to the east side as well. Now Berlin has become a street art and graffiti capital of the world and everywhere you look, wall space is claimed by tags, wheatpastes, stencil art, and gigantic murals. Here is some of street art I spotted in the neighborhoods of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg:
Graffiti and stencil art on the outside wall of a cafe in Friedrichshain.
On Niederbarnimstrasse in Friedrichshain, I came across this wall covered almost entirely with wheatpaste and stencil art.
Zooming out of the graffiti wall on Niederbarnimstrasse.
Across from the graffiti wall, these two artists were working on piece for a business.
I did a double take at this 3D painting of bricks in Friedrichshain.
Can you spot the the mural here? I found this on Warschauer Strasse in Friedrichshain.
The theme of the city: “Berlin is poor, but sexy”
This is the whole mural. It’s painted on the East Side Hotel at Mühlenstrasse, across the street from the East Side Gallery.
A huge mural in Kreuzberg by the Italian artist, Blu.
Another mural by Blu in Kreuzberg. This photo was taken from Oberbaumbrüke.
I wandered into what looked like a construction site and came across this colorful mural in Kreuzberg.
More art in a walkway that led to the construction site.
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So, so, so inspiring!!
Yeah, I really enjoyed spotting stuff that was different from anything I’ve seen in the US or Latin America. It was especially cool to see large scale pieces!
Fantastic! Berlin is one of the best cities for street art in all of Europe, I think.
I’m guessing it’s probably one of the biggest places for street art around the world too. It seems so ingrained in the culture, government sanctioned or otherwise.
I was in Berlin several years ago but didn’t have an eye for street art. Definitely want to go back. Great photos.
Thanks, Stephanie. The mural culture of SF got me interested in street art and now finding each culture’s take on it has become a big part of my travels! Berlin has some of the most fascinating stuff for sure.
Poor but sexy? I never heard that one before. Street art always gives a really interesting look into the character of a city and Berlin seems fascinating from this perspective.
Berlin has long been a poor city that’s been known to attract young, liberal, creative types from all over who are drawn to cheap rents and the atmosphere. As you say, street art can give a lot of insight into a culture and I think many of these pieces reflect that image!