A nod to Street art in Lisbon

I have had the pleasure of sampling the beauty and creativity inherent in street art in a few countries but never have I seen the sheer number of large street art on as many large buildings as I did in Lisbon. The canvases (buildings) were almost as impressive as the art that adorned them. These were contextual street art pieces that conveyed messages, not necessarily subversive, to folks who saw them, in most cases from long distances.

The importance of Street art in Lisbon  really dawned on me when on a half hour train journey to Sintra, a small town outside Lisbon, I saw nothing but graffiti on every inch of the walls and barriers that separated the train tracks from the residential neighbourhoods the train whizzed through. Street art is as much an adornment on Lisbon building just as much as Lisbon’s famed tiles are. This indeed is a city that is comfortable living with its past historical decor as it is with its newer forms of expression.

The photos below of street art in Lisbon were not sought out or taken on a guided street art tour, which by the way does exist in Lisbon. They were all seen, captured and hopefully documented for posterity as I crisscrossed Lisbon from one district to the next sight seeing.