Before the urban art trend started taking off, people saw graffiti as a way for rebellious people to cause trouble. Even if the technique and mural were flawless, society equated the effort to the same things you’d find on the wall in a bathroom stall.
Graffiti is a form of vandalism that allows artists to express themselves without permission in murals. It’s different from tagging or drawing crude figures or words with spray paint because it aims to create value.
Anyone can put a swear word on a fence when they feel rebellious. Graffiti is street art that comes from a unique skill set. When the surface is finished, the piece makes people stop to examine what they are seeing.
Over the years, several artists have made a name for themselves within this genre. People like Banksy have even transitioned into more traditional galleries and venues, with some pieces selling for seven or eight figures.
As urban art has spread worldwide, so has the opportunity for new graffiti artists to show off their skills.
If you want to explore this medium, you’ll find some of the best works ever documented in this post. When you start creating, please remember to see permission from the property’s owner before making something for others to enjoy.
Also, be sure to check our post about the most talented 3D Chalk Street Artists.
Urban Art Has Only Been Taken Seriously for About 30 Years
Before the urban art trend started taking off, people saw graffiti as a way for rebellious people to cause trouble. Even if the technique and mural were flawless, society equated the effort to the same things you’d find on the wall in a bathroom stall.
Graffiti was seen as a pointless and destructive exercise with little value in the 1970s and before. It was only in the late 1980s that attitudes started changing toward this form of expressionism.
Now you can find global artists getting brought into our cities to create stunning murals on blank building walls. It’s no longer seen as objectionable. The bright colors, bold prints, and realism that come from some pieces are truly extraordinary.
List of the Best Street Art You Can See Today
If you’re ready to see some of the world’s best street art, here are the installations that are currently maintained in their original glory. Each piece has something unique that it attempts to communicate to others.
What do you see when you look at the following items?
1. Mural in Bristol: Irony
Irony is a self-taught artist who focuses on creating industrial-scale street art that still focuses on softness and realism. This 2015 effort in Bristol features a woman working hard, hanging from the top of a building to repair something. Although it creates the idea that a woman can do anything that a man can in today’s society, you’ll also see that a Teddy bear dangles from her toolbelt.
2. Along the Way: Alice Pasquini
This Italian artist received an invitation to put together a stunning mural in Rochester, NY. It was part of the Wall/Therapy festival that was held that year. It’s a simple figure at first, a woman looking at you with a neutral expression until you see everything about her. Although we might all be individuals, we are also a sum of the whole of our experiences. That’s what is reflected in her artwork.
3. Mural in Rio de Janeiro: Brusk
When you see this stunning graffiti mural in Brazil, you’ll need to look twice to see all of the incredible detail included with the work. The artist created this piece as part of the 2015 Art Rua Urban Art Festival in the city. You’ll see a fire extinguisher serving as the primary medium, covered in tags and various graphic items. As the eye moves upward, you can see what looks like birds flying away from the piece. She also left the bottom part to drip strategically down the wall to make it feel slightly unrefined.
4. Mural in Aspen: Christina Angelina
When you see this stunning graffiti mural in Colorado, you’ll need to look twice to see all of the incredible detail included with the work. The artist created this piece to be on the eastern side of the Crystal Palace building. You’ll feel almost melancholy when seeing it at first with the color scheme. As you examine the mixture of the tigress and the woman, the plays of shadow and light simply take your breath away.
5. Down the Rabbit Hole with Neon Lights: Cruiot
Although the mural created by this Mexican street artist doesn’t seem to reflect the title, it’s a stunning display that reflects his culture. He was invited to create this intricate piece in San Francisco right before a 2015 solo exhibition in the city. The colors are what draw your attention to the work initially, especially with the masked figures and ancient symbolism incorporated into the piece. It extends up much of the building’s wall, creating a sense of awe to the viewer.
6. Mural in Toulouse: Gris1
This impressive street art was created before the 2015 Mr. Freeze exposition in Toulouse, France. It’s a glorious big cat, but the artist uses the idea of combining bracelets and bubbles to create the body shape and figure. The colors are bold and contrasting, with just enough gray to create a realistic outline. It almost feels like you see the ligaments and tendons of the beast, standing poised – but ready to strike at a moment’s notice.
7. Life and Death the Cycle: Cix and Irving Cano
You’ll discover this stunning graffiti art in Mexico, created by two of the industry’s top artists for the Constructo Festival. It’s rich in color and boldness, combining cultural symbolism with a modern flare. The different plays on light and contrast are unique, making the wall feel as if it is about to come alive. It’s one of those creations that gets deeper and more complex the more you look at it, especially with the attention to detail given to the piece.
8. Mural in Stavanger: Martin Whatson
This artist’s signature style combines monochromatic stenciling with vibrant urban art additions to create unique pieces. He created this mural for the Nuart Festival in Norway. Although it might not be as complex as other efforts, the emotions the image produces in the viewer make it stand out as street art. Your eyes are drawn to the color at first, followed by the pure joy that comes when someone is in the middle of completing their art.
9. Mural for Rag and Bone NYC: Alexis Diaz
One of the best attributes of street art is the immediate impact it creates. Most graffiti artists can complete their work in a couple of hours. If you want something more complex, it could take a day or two to get things right. Diaz took over a week to produce this stunning skull-based mural for the Elizabeth Street façade of a New York City boutique. The bones are split apart to reveal a human heart with an eye, wrapped by vines and pierced by a key.
10. Mural in Eauze: Vinie
Vinie is one of those urban artists who has a more playful style with her murals. She often uses the natural elements from the location to draw up the plans for her piece. This effort might be her best, showing off a naked woman who has a climbing ivy serving as her hair. It’s almost like she’s hiding behind the wall where she’s painted, and the roughness of the piece makes it seem as if she’s got scars. Even with all of that, you’ll still think of her as being beautiful.
11. Mural in Campania: Ella and Pitr
This urban art duo has a reputation for taking their murals to massive levels. They’ve painted everything from rooftops to parking garages. This work in Campania is one of their most famous, depicting a man taking a nap in a parking lot. You must see it from high above to grasp the work’s complexity since it fills up the entire space. Although the colors and posing aren’t hyper-realistic, you’ll undoubtedly appreciate the scale of the effort.
12. What If I Fall? But Imagine, What If You Fly?
This stunning piece from WD can be found in Athens, Greece. It incorporates an outer stairwell as part of the design, showing a trio of elephants that appear to be cheering on a brave fourth who wants to take a leap of faith. The huge animals have tiny wings attached to the shoulders, creating the idea that flight could be a possibility. At the top, the animal thinking about a jump looks pensive and upset. What is going to happen next?
13. Mural in Campobasso: Blu
The artist created this fascinating piece for the Draw the Line Festival in Italy. It’s a massive mural, incorporating almost a dozen floors from the side of a building. It depicts an enormous rock that seems to have escaped the planet. Inside of it is a rainbow of colors, as suggested by the artist’s cutout. It’s layer upon layer of depth and clarity, including a pale blue sky that fades into the night along the rooftops.
14. Mural in Montreal: Seth Globepainter
This French street artist built a reputation for creating colorful and playful figures. His work in this Canadian city shows two children who run into each other. It’s remarkable because of the mirroring effect that the piece achieves, using the brick from the building to create the feeling of movement. The girl’s dress remains unpainted, allowing the wall to serve as the color and medium there.
15. Dismaland: Banksy
It would only stand to reason that one of the world’s foremost urban artists would create an entire bemusement area for one of his own works. The small mural shows two young boys trying to peek behind a shower curtain to see a woman showering. He uses a piece of iron to serve as the privacy barrier. Although it is more of a rite of passage piece than something provocative, it still helps to show his overall brilliance.
16. Murals in England and Tunisia: Faith47
One of the world’s most prolific street artists creates dozens of murals each year. In 2014, she had two notable items to consider seeing. They’ve been included as one piece because they are both of unicorns that tell the story of man’s relationship with the animal. Her work feels somber and sad to a point, but it’s also remarkable how natural her pieces feel once completed. It’s almost like she found something that was there all along.
17. Sleeping Girl: Seth Globepainter and HTJ
In this collaborative piece, you’ll find a Tahitian girl taking a nap. She’s surrounded by the traditional Polynesian patterns that come from the local culture. What stands out the most is the vibrancy of her blue hair in the red background, creating a unique contrast point with the various shapes you can see. A single flower remains tucked in her ear, and you can only imagine the dreams she might be having at that moment.
18. Dissection of a Polar Bear: Nychos
This artist creates signature representations of dissected animals when creating urban art murals. To celebrate the Rabbit Eye Movement’s tenth anniversary, he made the most significant artwork of its type in Vienna. You’ll see an angry bear under the water, with the artist exploring several of the animal’s body parts while creating movement and emotion. A few fish are trying to escape capture, and the artist gives them the same treatment.
19. Mural in Heerlen: Millo
This incredible black and white mural feels like it was taken straight out of a children’s book. On one vertical wall, you can see the overall scene of a figure playing with a yo-yo. On the second piece, there’s a close-up of the hand playing with the toy. It was painted in 2015 with the support of a local mural organization that promotes public street art practices worldwide.
20. The Phoenix: Gert Neuhaus
As one of the earliest examples of stunning street art, this Berlin masterpiece was finished in 1989. It creates a visual play, making it seem like an old-fashioned steamer ship is coming through the building. It’s a masterful look at perspective, creating depth in ways that make it feel like it shouldn’t be there at all. You can find it in the Charlottenburg district near the Spreekanal.
21. Bialystok Mural: Natalia Rak
Although this mural shows a young girl watering a nearby tree, it’s the bold colors that make you take notice of the piece. She’s wearing a bright rainbow dress, and the fiery tones of her hair will make you take note. There’s a blush to her cheeks, as if she was working outside for most of the day. The apparel is traditional, with the sleeves having the patterns beloved by the local culture. It may have been created in 2013, but it is still one of the most charming street art installations you’ll find out there.
22. Piotrus Pan: Bydgoszcz
Have you ever imagined what it would be like to take off to Neverland? Although the idea of flying away to escape your worries feels appealing, we know the concept isn’t grounded in reality. It’s up to us to work hard, stay humble, and take pride in what we do. That doesn’t mean we can’t imagine what life would be like in a different form. That’s the attitude that this incredible mural presents to the world.
23. Switch Mural: Escif
This mural succeeds with its simplicity. It is a light switch, blown up to a massive size, that will certainly turn heads when people see it. You’ll almost feel like you could push the button yourself!
24. Industrial Mural: Blu
Have you ever seen something that you’d prefer to have taken from your mind? What if you could control what you see by physically unlocking your vision? This piece takes a straightforward approach to urban art. By having a young person work to unlock their sight, the political commentary suggests that we don’t need to be blinded by false promises anymore.
25. Holy Warrior: INTI
Created for the Urban Forms Festival, this mural shows off the artist’s signature character. The patterns and details incorporated into the piece create a positive first impression. As you look deeper into the artwork’s dynamics, you’ll find many intricate details to make it feel quite personal.
26. Urban Forms Mural: Victor Puzin
Puzin creates incredible three-dimensional street art that makes it feel like your eyes are deceiving you. With this effort, you’ll get the artist’s take on a 3D wall with blocks that seem to be popping out from it. Actual painted blocks are in front of the piece to lend more credibility to the plays on form and shadow.
What are some of your favorite street murals that you’ve seen in the cities you’ve visited?
