Le M.U.R Bastille - A new showcase for urban art in Paris

By 2021, urban art will have a new place in the heart of the city. Following in the footsteps of the M.U.R. Oberkampf, Modulable, Urbain et Réactif, the M.U.R. Bastille offers a new space for today's art. Each quarter, an artist will be given carte blanche to create a work of art, awakening the sensibilities of city dwellers and reactivating their imaginations.

Over the past twenty years, urban art has flourished on the city's walls to speak to us about our current situation and our humanity. Apostrophied by a graffiti, enlivened by a sticker, moved by a painting, passers-by are discovering more and more of an art form that is contemporary to them. The artists' works, whether intimate or monumental, with their political, humorous or poetic themes, address the issues facing our society, alerting or amusing, but also delighting.

This civic initiative aims to promote urban art and keep alive the life of a district steeped in both history and current affairs! Famous in the history of France and its revolutions, the Bastille is still an effervescent district where artistic creativity is expressed by its many talented craftsmen and shopkeepers. Urban art, popular by nature, has its natural place here.

To kick off this "modular, urban and responsive" program, which will feature four artists in succession each year, in a delicate and poetic way, it's the artist Madame who will create a work on Valentine's Day, the celebration of profane and spiritual love.

The concept : One Wall - One Engraving

"De pierre et de papier", each invited artist will produce a lithograph of his or her M.U.R. to ink his or her work in a numbered and enhanced print, to keep a lasting souvenir of his or her ephemeral work. The lithographs will be produced in Michael Woolworth's art print shop, at the entrance to rue de la Roquette.

The first artist to work on the M.U.R.: Madame

Voted one of the 50 artists of the 21st century by L'Œil , Madame is a collagist who uses images as well as language. Her poetic, witty works on the city's walls tell the story of our most intimate yet most universal human relationships. Between maxims and warnings, the little phrases that punctuate his works have the value of oracles. Always benevolent, often mischievous, they enchant her assemblages of images and constitute their very articulation. Madame's works offer repartee to our lives.