Not Really There (7 Photos)

Painted streets that are not really there

A record shop in Rotterdam, a town square in Spain and a river view in France are all flat paint on blank walls. Three of these seven walls come with a before photo, so you can see what the painters started with.

More: Art That Feels Real (12 Photos)

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🎺 “Opowieść śródecka z trębaczem na dachu i kotem w tle” — Concept by Radosław Barek in Poznań, Poland 🇵🇱

A bare tenement wall became an old Śródka street with rooftops, a butcher in his doorway, a trumpeter and a cat creeping along the roof. The City of Poznań says Prof. Radosław Barek drew the design and Fundacja PUENTA painted it; it was unveiled on October 1, 2015.

💡 History Fact: The rider with the white eagle on his shield is Władysław Odonic, the duke who granted Śródka town rights in 1231, according to the city.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsOpowieść śródecka z trębaczem na dachu i kotem w tleRadosław Barek and Fundacja PUENTA · 2015 · Śródka 3, PoznańUnveiled 1 October 2015Butcher, trumpeter and catTerravita ad kept in paint1According to Arleta Kolasińska of Fundacja PUENTA, four people, at times up to eight, painted it over a month.National Geographic Polska2The rooftop trumpeter recalls Śródka’s vanished town hall, from which a trumpeter once played the bugle call, according to the city.City of Poznań201521 SepCommons photo, scaffold still up20151 OctOfficial unveiling201717 AprCommons photo20182 DecCommons photo202023 JulNational Geographic Polska202317 JunCommons photo at night20254 Oct10th-birthday celebrationRead the full file →

More: A Masterpiece in Poznań’s Historic Śródka District

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🌉 “Au fil de Loire” — By A-Fresco / Patrick Commecy in Brives-Charensac, France 🇫🇷

The top photo shows the plain gable. Below it, the wall opens onto the Loire, an old stone bridge and washerwomen at work. A-Fresco’s project page notes that washerwomen beat their laundry at the river here until the 1970s.

💡 Flood Fact: The mural includes a flood marker. The river’s record level in town was 6.80 meters on September 21, 1980, A-Fresco says.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsAu fil de LoireA-Fresco · 2009 · Place de l’Église, Brives-CharensacPinceau d’Or 2009100 m² (L’Éveil)1The town says the design rests on the idea of a bridge between Brives and Charensac, the two communes united in 1839.Ville de Brives-Charensac2L’Éveil reported in April 2010 that the jury of a trompe-l’œil website chose the wall as the finest mural of 2009.L’Éveil200911 SepPhotos on trompe-l’oeil.info200913 SepBlog: painted June 200920109 AprL’Éveil: Pinceau d’OrRead the full file →

More: Patrick Commecy’s Mural in Montpellier (9 Photos)

🔗 Visit A-Fresco’s website

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🏛️ “Fresque des Québécois” — By CitéCréation in Québec City, Canada 🇨🇦

The houses, shops, stairs and gateway are all painted on one flat gable at 29 Rue Notre-Dame. Québec City’s tourism office credits CitéCréation, with Hélène Fleury, Marie-Chantal Lachance and Pierre Laforest, and dates it to 1999.

💡 Spot Fact: Look at the windows: about 15 historic figures and nearly a dozen of Québec’s leading writers and artists are painted into them.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsFresque des QuébécoisCitéCréation · 1999 · 29 Rue Notre-Dame, Québec CityInaugurated 17 Oct 1999About 15 historic figures1The Commission de la capitale nationale says Culture Minister Agnès Maltais inaugurated the mural at a big public party at Place-Royale.CCNQ2According to the plaque at the wall, the trompe-l’œil brought together twelve artists from Québec and France.HMDB199917 OctInaugurated2010AugCorner panel added20194 AugHMDB photos202311 JulIn city mural guideRead the full file →

🔗 Visit CitéCréation’s website

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🚢 “Phoenix” — By Gert Neuhaus in Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪

The ship named Phoenix seems to crash out of an ornate old facade, but its bow, the windows and the cornices are all painted on a side wall. Neuhaus painted it in 1989 on the firewall at Wintersteinstraße 20 in Charlottenburg.

💡 Nerd Fact: It is Neuhaus’s best-known facade motif, and Berliners’ longing for the water gave him the idea of an ocean liner.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsPhoenixGert Neuhaus · 1989 · Wintersteinstraße 20, Berlin-CharlottenburgOcean liner on a firewallPainted with three helpersNear the Caprivibrücke1Christine Neuhaus, Dirk Herzog and Heinrich Butler helped Gert Neuhaus paint the ocean liner on the firewall in 1989.Wandbilder Berlin2A photo dated 13 August 1989 already shows the finished ship, seen across the Spree from the Caprivibrücke.Wikimedia Commons198913 AugCommons photo from the Spree20127 JunCommons photo201313 JanGeograph Deutschland photo201511 JunBerliner Kurier feature201710 SepFlickr photo, on Commons201919 AprCommons photoRead the full file →

🔗 Visit Gert Neuhaus’s website

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🎩 “Metal Fingers” — By Taroe in Rotterdam, Netherlands 🇳🇱

Two men in pink and white suits walk past a record shop called Astorians, painted across the end wall of an apartment block. Taroe painted it entirely with brushes for ALL CAPS 2026 in Lombardijen, stitching fragments of cities he had photographed into one street that does not exist.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsMetal FingersTaroe · 2026 · Lombardijen, RotterdamALL CAPS festival 2026Brushes only (ALL CAPS)1According to ALL CAPS, Taroe stitched fragments of cities from around the world into an entirely new, fictional streetscape for Lombardijen.ALL CAPS2According to Street Art Cities, the mural is based on an oil painting Taroe originally made on canvas in his studio.Street Art Cities20267 SepStreet Art Cities photos202618 SepOn the new ALL CAPS route20264 OctLocal news reportRead the full file →

🔗 Follow Taroe on Instagram

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🏘️ A Town Square on a Parking Lot Wall — By Rober Bece in Santa Marta de Tormes, Spain 🇪🇸

The white parking lines run straight into a painted square with houses, balconies, shop signs and a fountain. The wall stands next to the town hall on Plaza de España, and the scene pays tribute to the town’s shops and bars.

💡 Nerd Fact: Bece says the wall honors the women who drove Santa Marta’s local trade from the 1960s on. Old photos and locals’ descriptions of the shops served as references, since many of them are gone.

📂 Artwork File · Sourced factsMujer, historia y puebloRober Bece · 2025 · Plaza de España, Santa Marta de TormesAbout 500 m²Mural paint and spray1The town’s tourism office says the mural honours women whose work sustained traditional trade and laid the foundations of local business.Turismo Santa Marta de Tormes2According to Salamanca24horas, Bece worked from old photos supplied by local people, because many of the old shops are gone.Salamanca24horas202518 JanBeing finished202530 JanUnveiling photos202531 JanLa Gaceta reportRead the full file →

🔗 Follow Rober Bece on Instagram

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🏢 3D Balcony — By Kartitect in Sirius, Russia 🇷🇺

The bottom photo shows the wall before; the curved balconies, their shadows and the blue ornament in the top photo are all paint. Kartitect is Kali Baynazarov from Kazakhstan, who planned an illusion mixing Russian and Kazakh ornament for the New Forms festival.

More: Walls You Can Feel (9 Photos)

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