Enchanting Street Art by Nina Valkhoff: Celebrating Wildlife and Nature on Urban Walls

Nina Valkhoff is a muralist and painter from the Netherlands known for her vibrant, large-scale murals that often depict wildlife, flora, and powerful female figures.

Her detailed, expressive works are inspired by her love for nature and her advocacy for animal rights, aiming to create awareness and admiration for biodiversity. Valkhoff’s art combines realism with colorful surrealism, transforming urban spaces around the world. She’s painted murals across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, each work adding her unique vision to public spaces.

For more, visit Nina Valkhoff’s website.

“Jade and Moggy” by Nina Valkhoff by in Gent, Belgium.

Nina Valkhoff: This mural is for everyone who needs a hug. It’s called ‘Jade and Moggy’ and it represents the amazing feeling of hugging someone you love, human or animal. Especially in these challenging times this is a feeling most of us crave, and I hope to give a message of hope and love with this mural. We see a sleeping girl with her cat. Is she dreaming, or is what we are seeing a daydream of the cat, who sees tasty little fishes appear? Based on a photo taken by Karin Post of her daughter Jade and their cat Moggy. Made for the Goldmine festival in Gent, organized by Wallin’.

More cats: 43 Purrfect Street Art Pieces

Mural by Nina Valkhoff in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire for Cheltenham Paint Festival.

“Stadsnatuur” by Nina Valkhoff in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Did you know that there are foxes in Rotterdam? I did not, and I was so delighted, that I took this opportunity (wall) to tell everyone about the foxes in my city! There are roughly between 30 and 50 of them, hiding for humans, very rarely they are spotted on the streets. They help to keep the population of rats under control and they will never attack humans/kids . The downside is that chickens and rabbits are not safe for a hungry fox.

The Irish mythological story of Étaín! By Nina Valkhoff for DRAWDA festival in Drogheda, Ireland.

Nina Valkhoff: My contribution to the DRAWDA festival in Drogheda, Ireland. This was a special one, I was given the Irish mythological story of Étaín, to make my own visual representation of this complex story. I will not do it justice trying to summarize it here, so I will explain the elements I picked. Étaín was a beautiful woman who got cursed and transformed into a scarlet fly. This is the glowing insect you see in the middle of my painting, a ‘scarlet fly’ with a little twist. In the very end of the story, over a thousand years have passed and Étaín has transformed many times, she flies away with her lover and they are seen as two swans. In my composition I tried to show protection and love, elements that are a part of this story.

What do you think about the murals by Nina Valkhoff?