Street art in Butte aux Cailles

Owned by Les Cailles… 

Picture Butte aux Cailles in the Middle Ages: a little hamlet surrounded by meadows and windmills overlooking the Bièvre, a small tributary of the Seine. Meet Pierre Caille, a sculptor and ceramicist, who invested and became a land and vineyard owner in 1543: his family, les Cailles, moved here. And there you have it, that’s where the Butte’s name comes from! 

A classic Parisian neighbourhood

Then dyers, tanners, butchers, craftsmen and traders came to live here in the 18th century. Everyday life in Butte was shaken up by a historical event: it set the scene for the Paris Commune in 1871 when barricades were raised and battles caused countless casualties. 

Butte remained a village with winding lanes and even escaped the major Haussmann building work that transformed 19th century Paris. Only the heavily polluted Bièvre was razed to the ground. The former limestone quarries here significantly hindered the construction of any large buildings. So Butte aux Cailles has held onto its cobbled lanes, low buildings and age-old village soul.

The neighbourhood is jam-packed with exciting historical and artistic oddities! Just take the Art Déco pool covered in red brick and supplied by an Artesian well… Your guide will tell you all about it! 

Butte aux Cailles street art: putting the “art” into “heart” 

The photographer Brassaï wrote: “The wall belongs to all those with a big heart, it is the blackboard for the school of life.” He even devoted a book to Butte aux Cailles and its artworks. 

The neighbourhood also stands out for its brightly coloured streets adorned by original “murals”. Street art has reigned over Butte aux Cailles for years with countless techniques on show from stencils and collages to graffiti. The streets of Butte aux Cailles are an open book, a comic strip in different colours with messages to share with onlookers. Join your guide on the streets to explore permanent pieces by famous artists and temporary creations by up-and-comers. You’ll learn everything there is to now about street art on this guided tour: its techniques, etiquette, Graff, toy, drips and back-to-back, prepare to learn the lingo!

Miss Tic, Jef Aérosol and many more street art stars

You’ll see pieces by the dearly departed Miss Tic, one of the famous names to leave their mark on the Butte aux Cailles walls. You can instantly recognise her signature sensual and seductive stencils of women and word plays that give you food for thought or make you smile. 

Then there’s the globe painter Seth and his kids playing without a care in the world. Watch out for the optical illusions! Jef Aérosol is another big name on the Butte aux Cailles walls. His characters are magnetic: different cultures, positions, moods… and in case you don’t spot the piece, Jef always marks the way with a red arrow!