Pure Joy (8 Photos)
By Vidar
Laughter you can almost hear
Two older women laugh with their mouths wide open on a house gable in France. These eight artworks, from large murals to a small chalk drawing, are about the kind of joy you can see on a face.
😂 Rires ensembles — By Ma Touche Perso in Éragny, France 🇫🇷
One woman looks across at the other, who has already lost herself in laughter. Ma Touche Perso describes the mural as a celebration of living together through laughter, painted where a neighborhood of detached houses meets a social-housing estate, so that it reflects the people who cross paths there every day. The 7-by-4-meter wall mixes street art, graffiti and a watercolor look.
📷 Artwork: Ma Touche Perso
More: See the Full “Rires ensembles” Mural by Ma Touche Perso
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😊 I Want to See You Smile — By Diego Nobre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷
The child’s eyes squeeze shut and the grin takes over the corner of the building, with a spray can held up in one hand. Next to the portrait, the painted words Quero te ver sorrir are Portuguese for “I want to see you smile.”
🔗 Follow Diego Nobre on Instagram
😆 The Laugh Escapes the Wall — By SCAF in Puteaux, France 🇫🇷
The hyena leans out of its frame with its mouth wide open and tongue hanging down. SCAF carries the illusion onto the ground with a checkerboard floor, while a shadow on the wall behind makes the head seem to push into the viewer’s space. He painted it for the 14th Graffic Art Festival in Puteaux, produced by Notorious Brand, in September 2025.
💡 Science Fact: The spotted hyena’s “laugh” is a giggling call that signals rank rather than amusement. A 2010 study found that subordinate hyenas giggle more erratically than dominant ones, that the pitch drops with age, and that individuals can be recognized from a single note.
More: 26 Amazing 3D Paintings by SCAF
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A wild first bike ride across a gable wall. Which city is this?
Show answer
Aschaffenburg, Germany 🇩🇪
🚲 The Bicycle Lesson — By Marc Robitzky in Aschaffenburg, Germany 🇩🇪
The child on the bike laughs with both arms spread wide, while the man behind keeps pace. Robitzky painted the mural at Bernhardstraße 27 in July 2026, one of five new murals in the mural project for the 125th anniversary of Damm, an Aschaffenburg district. Street Art Cities lists the wall as untitled.
📷 Photo: Stylefile Magazine
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🌿 Elise’s Little Dance — By David Zinn
Elise has both arms out and a real patch of green for a tutu. Zinn drew the chalk raccoon around a crack in the pavement, so the weeds growing there do the job of the costume. He shared her on Facebook with the line “Elise has legs for ballet but her hands are all jazz.”
More: Happiness Maker David Zinn (8 Photos)
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🌊 Laughter by the Water — By Luifer Guarín on Isla de Barú, Colombia 🇨🇴
The woman’s head tilts back above the real waterline, with herons and mangroves stretching along the wall. Her mouth is wide open, and the laugh is the biggest thing on the façade. Guarín showed the work in progress in a process post on Instagram.
💡 Artist Fact: Luifer Guarín, full name Luis Fernando Guarín Molina, is a muralist from Cartagena. In February 2025 he painted a roughly 15-meter-long portrait of Shakira in Barranquilla’s Barrio Abajo ahead of her Carnival-season concerts in the city.
More: Neon Jungle Mural by Luifer Guarín in Peru
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😄 The Big Brother — By Nikita Nomerz in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia 🇷🇺
The holes in the old tower become eyes, and the painted mouth opens into an enormous laugh. A 2012 feature on his Living Walls series lists this 2010 piece as The Big Brother. The tower stands on the Oka embankment below Chernigovskaya Street, at the former Kuibyshev water-pumping station, built in 1880, where Nomerz painted three works in total.
More: 17 Times Nikita Nomerz Brought Walls to Life
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🧱 The Brick Smile — By PENAO in Barcelona, Spain 🇪🇸
PENAO gives the old building a grin full of uneven brick teeth. The two small windows become eyes, and an ear wraps around the corner. A version documented in 2019 had a zipper running across the mouth instead.
💡 Artist Fact: PENAO is the name used by Barcelona artist Albert Penado. In 2017 the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation commissioned him to paint Marie Curie, Hedy Lamarr, Peggy Whitson and Rajaâ Cherkaoui El Moursli on Passeig de Lluís Companys, as a tribute to women pioneers in science and technology.
More: Brick Smile by PENAO (4 Photos)
🔗 Follow PENAO on Instagram
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