Quiz: Where Is This Art? (15 Photos)

By Vidar
A willow archer stands in green woodland beside a separate photograph of a giant blue eye painted on a beach bunker.

Fifteen photos. How many places can you name?

From a willow archer in the woods to a bunker with a blue eye, these artworks turn their surroundings into part of the picture. Pick one place for each photo, then discover the artist and the story. A few clues will help you along the way.

Guess the City
A woven willow archer draws a bow among green woodland trees.

This willow archer was created for castle woods in Yorkshire. Which English town?

Show answer

Skipton, England, UK 🇬🇧

Anna & The Willow created this archer for Skipton Castle Woods. The artist’s commission page calls it The Spirit of the Medieval Hunter; the flowing skirt and bow are woven from willow around a supporting frame.

Artwork: Anna & The Willow

Guess the City
A small green chalk creature tries to bite a metal utility cover drawn as an enormous cookie.

This chalk goblin found a giant cookie in a Michigan university town. Which one?

Show answer

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 🇺🇸

David Zinn made One Cookie Per Day in Ann Arbor in April 2019. His description of the work identifies the ingredients as chalk, charcoal and a real utility cover—the street supplied the cookie.

Artwork: David Zinn

Guess the City
A huge mural makes a flat wall look like a busy neighborhood with windows, balconies and a central staircase.

Most of this street is paint. Which French city is home to the silk-weavers’ mural?

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Lyon, France 🇫🇷

CitéCréation’s Mur des Canuts fills a wall in Lyon’s Croix-Rousse district, historically home to silk workers. The artists’ project page dates the first version to 1987 and describes a painted surface of 1,200 square meters.

Artwork: CitéCréation

Guess the City
A before-and-after pair shows two curved street barriers transformed into colorful kissing snakes.

Two street barriers become kissing snakes at Taiwan’s Pier-2 Art Center. Which city?

Show answer

Kaohsiung, Taiwan 🇹🇼

Tom Bob turned these ordinary barriers into KISS at Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung. The artist’s original post shows how the curves of the existing metalwork become the snakes’ bodies.

Artwork: Tom Bob

Guess the City
Four seasonal views of a woman’s painted face, with a living tree forming her changing hair.

A tree does the hairstyling in Poland’s capital. Which city is this?

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Warsaw, Poland 🇵🇱

Bruno Althamer designed this portrait of singer Kora in Warsaw, using the neighboring chestnut tree as her changing hair. In the commissioning magazine’s account, he explains that the living tree makes the portrait respond to the seasons.

Artwork: Bruno Althamer

Guess the City
A giant shark sculpture points headfirst through the tiled roof of a suburban house.

A 25-foot shark dives into a roof in a city famous for its university. Which English city?

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Oxford, England, UK 🇬🇧

Bill Heine and sculptor John Buckley conceived this shark-and-house artwork in Oxford. The Shark House’s own history records its installation on 9 August 1986 and its fiberglass-and-steel construction. Photo: Set in Stone Project / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized.

Artwork: John Buckley and Bill Heine

Guess the City
A tall painted woman holds her palms together beneath a headdress of living green plants.

This woman’s hair is made of living plants on an Oregon building. Which city?

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Portland, Oregon, USA 🇺🇸

Fin DAC’s OSolTerrae is on the SolTerra building in Portland. The building’s architects describe the mural and living wall as an integrated feature; the foliage grows out of the building to complete the painted headdress.

Artwork: Fin DAC

Guess the City
A giant painted hand holds a red power tool beneath a round opening onto a painted mountain landscape.

A painted power tool seems to break through a building in Liechtenstein. Which town?

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Schaan, Liechtenstein 🇱🇮

Patrick REDL Wehrli made this illusion for the Hilti Art Foundation in Schaan. His own map entry locates it on Feldkircher Strasse, while his portfolio gives the mural’s dimensions as 7.5 by 15 meters.

Artwork: Patrick REDL Wehrli

Guess the City
Two seasonal views show a sleeping woman formed from earth and plants, green in one view and covered with snow in the other.

This sleeping figure rests at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, near which Cornish town?

Show answer

Near St Austell, Cornwall, UK 🇬🇧

Mud Maid rests along the Woodland Walk at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, near St Austell. Heligan’s history credits Sue and Pete Hill with the sculpture; these two views show how differently the same sleeping figure appears in green growth and snow.

Artwork: Sue and Pete Hill

Guess the City
A large painted woman leans from a window toward a real person reaching up from the pavement.

A painted woman reaches from an old tobacco factory in Spain’s capital. Which city?

Show answer

Madrid, Spain 🇪🇸

Alice Pasquini painted this wall for the 2016 edition of Muros Tabacalera in Madrid. The project’s artist list confirms her participation; in this photograph, a real outstretched arm completes the painted encounter.

Artwork: Alice Pasquini

Guess the City
A donkey’s head made from discarded plastic and metal projects from a turquoise wall.

This donkey made from discarded materials lives at Portugal’s PINTA nature park. Which town?

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Vimioso, Portugal 🇵🇹

Bordalo II made two donkey portraits for PINTA in the municipality of Vimioso. In Lusa’s interview with the artist and project team, they describe collecting discarded materials from nearby villages. The title Burro de Miranda refers to the donkey breed.

Artwork: Bordalo II

Guess the City
A large mural shows a woman among tall grasses and flowers on the end wall of an apartment building.

A giant meadow covers a wall in a Polish port city near the German border. Which city?

Show answer

Szczecin, Poland 🇵🇱

Krzysztof Bitka painted this meadow on Dębogórska Street in Szczecin. The city’s own report identifies it as part of Street Art Szczecin 2021, proposed by Dom Kultury Skolwin.

Artwork: Krzysztof Bitka

Guess the City
A tall arched doorway is painted as a symmetrical face in red, turquoise, yellow and green.

This doorway becomes a face at Szimpla Kert, a famous ruin bar. Which city?

Show answer

Budapest, Hungary 🇭🇺

V O I D painted this doorway at Szimpla Kert in Budapest, as documented in our original feature. The arched frame and door panels become part of the face. Photo: i.adoor.you.

Artwork: V O I D

Guess the City
A white seated ghost sculpture looks across a lake toward distant mountains.

This ghost sits at Castello di Vezio above Lake Como. Which lakeside town lies below the castle?

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Vezio, above Varenna, Italy 🇮🇹

The castle overlooks Varenna, although Castello di Vezio itself is in the municipality of Perledo. Lecco’s official tourism guide describes its white plaster ghosts and the terrace overlooking the town and Lake Como.

Artwork: The ghosts of Castello di Vezio

Guess the City
A huge blue eye is painted across a concrete bunker on a beach.

Last stop: Normandy. This giant eye once watched the beach from a bunker. Which coastal place?

Show answer

Siouville-Hague, France 🇫🇷

Näutil painted The Eye at Siouville-Hague in 2014, as his project archive records. There is a final twist: in 2016, he returned and painted the eye closed, so this photograph preserves its earlier, watchful appearance.

Artwork: Näutil

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