Didn’t See That Coming (9 Photos)

The twist is part of the work

In Marijampolė, Lithuania, Ray Bartkus painted a whole mural upside down on purpose: it only reads correctly in the river below. Each work in this second volume has a twist of its own.

More: Art Is Full of Surprises (16 Photos)

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🪞 Abisso — By LIGAMA in Ravanusa, Sicily, Italy 🇮🇹

A giant boy kneels on the gable and leans over the open ground floor as if peering into water; the person standing beneath him shows the scale. LIGAMA’s “Abisso” (Abyss), unveiled in November 2020, is a modern Narcissus. Instead of his own reflection, the boy sees whoever stands below.

💡 Nerd Fact: The water is a nod to Ravanusa’s founding legend, which tells of the conquest of Monte Saraceno and water gushing from a fig tree, as Grandangolo Agrigento explains.

More: LIGAMA’s Mural in Ravanusa

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🌬️ Stillness in Motion: The Matka Series — By Olga Ziemska in Orońsko, Poland 🇵🇱

A woman made of bundled willow branches stands on a lawn, the branch ends sweeping out behind her like hair in the wind. Olga Ziemska built her in 2002 from locally reclaimed willow and metal at the Center of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko, as the first work in her Matka series.

💡 Nerd Fact: Matka is Polish for “mother.” The temporary figure measured about 12 by 8 by 6 feet, according to the artist’s website.

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🌳 Among the Trees — By Megan Oldhues in Nelson, Canada 🇨🇦

Four children climb and sit on the branches of a painted tree that grows around the building’s real windows and entrance canopy. Megan Oldhues painted it for the 2026 Nelson International Mural Festival on a new supportive-housing building at 45 Government Road, operated by Nelson CARES. She shared the finished wall on Instagram.

💡 Artist Fact: Oldhues drew on childhood memories of the huge trees and tire swings at her grandparents’ lake property. She wanted to bring “a bit of that fun playfulness and nature” to the industrial area, in a quote shared by Street Art Cities.

More: “The Tender Gardener” by Megan Oldhues

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🌊 Floating World — By Ray Bartkus in Marijampolė, Lithuania 🇱🇹

Divers, rowers and swans are painted upside down on the wall of the old dam building; in the still water of the Šešupė River, the reflection turns them the right way up. Ray Bartkus painted “Floating World” in 2015 for the second MaLonNY art forum. Depending on the weather, the reflection can be sharp, rippled or gone altogether, which Marijampolė’s tourist information center describes as part of the idea.

💡 Nerd Fact: The name MaLonNY mixes Marijampolė, London and New York. Bartkus conceived the event, which adds new murals to the city every summer, Lithuania Travel notes.

More: This Upside-Down Mural Is Upright in Reflection

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📸 Hands — By Kerry Wilson in Glenrothes, Scotland 🇬🇧

Two enormous painted hands hold the mouth of a road underpass like a phone, with the real path through the tunnel on the screen. Art UK lists Kerry Wilson’s 2017 work as “Hands” at Napier Road, but locals know it as the Macedonia Mobile, or the Maci Selfie.

💡 Nerd Fact: Glenrothes appointed a “Town Artist” as early as 1968, Fife Art Trail notes, and its Town Art Trail now lists 172 public artworks.

More: Kerry Wilson’s Photo Tunnel in Glenrothes

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🧷 Corridor Pin, Blue — By Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen in San Francisco, USA 🇺🇸

An open safety pin about 21 feet (6.5 meters) tall stands in the lawn, its blue clasp planted in the grass beside a footpath. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen made Corridor Pin, Blue in 1999 from stainless steel, aluminum and polyurethane enamel. It is installed outside the de Young museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

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🛸 Darth Vader Monument — By Alexander Milov in Odesa, Ukraine 🇺🇦

A hand holds up an old photo of the Lenin statue in front of the same pedestal, where the figure now wears Darth Vader’s helmet and cape. Alexander Milov reworked the Soviet-era monument at the former Pressmash plant in October 2015, in the wake of Ukraine’s decommunization law.

💡 Nerd Fact: The converted monument was also equipped as a Wi-Fi hotspot, TIME reported.

More: Lenin Transformed Into Darth Vader in Odesa

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🧶 Projet Nid de Poule — By Juliana Santacruz Herrera in Paris, France 🇫🇷

A long crack in the sidewalk is stuffed with red, orange, yellow, pink and purple fabric, a few steps from a green bench. Juliana Santacruz Herrera called the series “Projet Nid de Poule” (Pothole Project) and documented her interventions on Paris streets, from Rue des Pyrénées to Boulevard de Belleville.

More: Street Art by Juliana Santacruz Herrera

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🐋 Message in a Plastic Bottle — By Ergo Bandits in the Viseu Region, Portugal 🇵🇹

The long wall of an industrial hall is painted as a plastic bottle lying on its side, with an orca squeezed inside and its tail sticking out of the neck. The collective Ergo Bandits painted it at a landfill in the Viseu region for the Tons da Primavera street art festival and World Environment Day, according to the project post.

More: Message in a Plastic Bottle by Ergo Bandits

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