The best route for exploring amazing street art in Utrecht
Are you looking for the most beautiful street art in Utrecht? Then you don’t have to search long, because Utrecht is full of it!
I often go looking for street art. Especially the suburbs of a city are often hotspots for street art. It’s a great surprise when you turn a corner and see a high mural or some beautiful graffiti. In Utrecht you can find plenty of street art like high murals and small colorful hidden gems.
In this list you will find a selection of the most beautiful street art in Utrecht, my hometown. Take a walk or bike ride along these colorful places to get to know a surprising side of the city! Which one is your favorite?
The largest mural
in Utrecht:
The Flute Player
Dorbeendreef
The Flute Player is painted by ‘De Strakke Hand’ on a flat on the Dorbeendreef in the Overvecht district. This work of art is 30 meters high and 10 meters wide. This makes The Flute Player the largest mural in Utrecht!
The Bookcase in Zuilen
Corner of Mimosastraat and Amsterdamsestraatweg
This mural is one of my favorites. Artist JanIsDeMan has asked local residents for their favorite book and used the input for this mural. The bookcase has become a fascinating mix of diverse internationalites and bright colors.
Hidden marriage proposal / UTRECHT
Monicahof, Oudenoord
This is another mural of JanIsDeMan and shows the word ‘Utrecht’ painted in large letters. There’s actually an interesting story underneath this work. When you search on Google Maps on this street name, you can see a completely different work of art: a marriage proposal of JanIsDeMan to his girlfriend Afra. If you want to know what the artwork looked like, take a look at this youtube video.
Amazing 3D street art in Utrecht
Berlin square, Leidsche Rijn
On the Berlin square in Leidsche Rijn you can find a great 3d painting. Artist Leon Keer has drawn a heart and brain floating above a dark hole in the ground. The heart and brain are connected to a drawn rope, on which you can balance yourself.
The famous Utrechtse kabouter: The Gnome
If you travel around Utrecht, you can almost spot the famous Utrechtse Kabouter ‘KBTR’ (gnome) everywhere! The works of art of the gnome can be found in countless places in Utrecht. Have you spotted the KBTR yet?
The mural below (left photo) is created by the famous Utrecht artist the Gnome (KBTR) and is located at the Gansstraat 64. In this street (Gansstraat 57) you can also find a mural with geese made by artist The Strakke Hand (right photo).
Series of murals showcasing groundbreaking Utrecht science
Oosterkade 30, Strosteeg 4B, Burgemeester Reigerstraat 9
How many Utrechters are aware of the groundbreaking discoveries made in their own city? To make these discoveries more widely known, murals depicting scientific formulas appeared at various locations in Utrecht. Artist The Strakke Hand has drawn a series of murals in downtown Utrecht showcasing groundbreaking Utrecht science. Until now, you can find murals on Buys Ballot’s Doppler Effect, Ornstein’s Coincidence Movement, Van ‘t Hoff’s Stereochemistry, and Dr. Bleeker’s phase-contrast microscope.
Below you can see the beautiful mural which is an ode to Professor Ornstein (left). This mural depicts the drunken walk, an example of chance movements researched by Professor Leonard Ornstein (1880-1941). The mural can be admired at Oosterkade 30 in Utrecht.
The other mural on the right features physicist Caroline Bleeker. She produced the phase-contract microscope. In addition to being a successful scientist and entrepreneur, Bleeker also dedicated herself to the emancipation of women. This is of course extra cool, because there were not many female physicists in those days. It’s nice that Caroline Bleeker is now so prominently featured in Utrecht.
The mural below shows the physicist and meteorologist Christophorus Buys Ballot (1817-1890) proving the doppler effect with an experiment. The doppler effect is a physical phenomenon that occurs when objects emit waves, for example light or sound. The mural can be found at Burgemeester Reigerstraat 9 in Utrecht. It can also be seen from the tracks near Maliebaan station.
Massive street art
in Utrecht:
Slapende Mars
Westplein
‘De Strakke Hand’ also painted the Slapende Mars at Westplein. Incredible to see how massive this street art is right?
Covid mural: I stay home
Adelaarstraat 3
In response to the outbreak of the coronavirus (covid), you can find, next to the ‘Ducdalf with ships’, a cheerful rainbow with the words ‘it’s going to be alright’ and #ikblijfthuis (I stay home).
Special detail: this mural is often repainted in response to current events. Earlier you could see a mural of the Tour de France.
A collaboration between JanisdeMan and Verfdokter
Hoogstraat 90
This beautiful mural was created by a collaboration between JanisdeMan and Verfdokter.
Birds in the Vogelenbuurt
Grietstraat and Hopakker, Vogelenbuurt
The Vogelenbuurt is a beautiful and green neighborhood in Utrecht. It Dutch it literally means the bird neighborhood. Here you can find plenty of bird art, like ‘the black-tailed godwit’ on the Grietstraat (Lisette Jansen), or the mural ‘a number of birdhouses and a Kolibri’ on the Hopakker (JanIsDeMan).
Life-size street sign and stone sheep at Daalsepark
Daalsepark
The Daalsepark is hardly to be missed because of the life-size street sign. Around the corner you can see a gigantic map of Utrecht and in the grass you can spot eight stone sheep in the grass.
The oldest street art in Utrecht: Ducdalf with ships
Bemuurde Weerd Oostzijde 45BIS
Below you can see the oldest street art work of Utrecht: ‘Ducdalf with ships’. This mural dates from 1978! Pictured is the Weerdsingel, which runs along the neighborhood.
Maria Church
Mariaplaats 24
This enormous mural brings the lost Maria Church back into the streets of Utrecht city center. The church was heavily shelled and was demolished for a long period until 1844. This mural is on the exact same location where the church previously stood.
Trains in the 2nd Daalsebuurt
Meidoornstraat and the Goudsbloemstraat, 2nd Daalsebuurt
The 2nd Daalsebuurt is a neighborhood where staff of the NS (Dutch Railways) used to live. The ‘Verfdokter’ painted several large murals of trains in this neighbourhood.
One of my favorites: the Otter with the Dom tower
Otterstraat 116
On the wall of the corner of the Otterstraat and Oudenoord you can find an enormous otter, the Dom tower and a hot air balloon. It is an ode to the Otter stream that ran here in 1941 (Otterstroom) and is one of my favorit street art in Utrecht.
Fun note: there were 2 other murals on this wall before this mural. In 1985 students made the first mural. On the mural it looked as if you were looking down on the street from a hot air balloon. In 1996 a new mural was made that also referred to the Otterstroom, but because it was regularly smeared with illegal graffiti, the residents asked the paint doctor to make the current mural.
3D artwork in Lunetten
Graafschap, Lunetten
In Lunetten you can find another large mural. People from the neighborhood submitted words that remind them of Lunetten. Some words are based on personal stories. Artist JanisdeMan delivered a gigantic 3-D artwork from this.
The Lute Player
Attleeplantsoen 6, Kanaleneiland
Centraal Museum Utrecht wanted some more publicity for their collection of Dutch Masterpieces and asked artist The Strakke Hand to paint some street art. One of those paintings is the Lute Player, a detail of a painting made by Dirck van Baburen in the year of 1622.
A drunken painting
Amsterdamsestraatweg 66
Insu-Inglu, JanIsDeMan and the Verfdoktor painted this scene. I don’t know the official name of this mural, but I call it the drunken painting.
River murals
Reitdiepstraat 50A and 36IA
In the Rivierenwijk (River neighborhood) you can find 2 large murals that center the underwater world. These are made by students of the Graphic Lyceum Utrecht (GLU). Interesting fact is that the mural also continues around the corners.
Downtown in Overvecht
Kalymnosdreef 228, Overvecht
This colorful mural is painted by Johan Moorman and can be find in Overvecht.
Portrett of
de Geer
Van Asch van Wijckskade
This painting of eight meters high, made by the Utrecht collective De Strakke Hand, shows a portrait of Heddy Koch-de Geer. Koch (1901-1991) was a Dutch painter.
Vaartsche Rijn in the past
Jutfaseweg 121
On the Jutfaseweg you can admire two murals that show what the Vaartsche Rijn district looked like in the past. Very interesting to see if you live in this neighborhood!
A mural in downtown Utrecht
Oudegracht 263BIS
The mural below can be found in downtown Utrecht.
Beautiful paintings showing old Utrecht
Zakkendragerssteeg
In the zakkendragerssteeg in the inner city of Utrecht there is a lot of art to discover. In this canal alley hang several paintings that show what the neighborhood used to look like. Very interesting! For example, one painting shows the former cigar warehouse on Vredenburg in 1927.
You’ll also find 2 other cool murals in this street. One on a door and one at the beginning of the alley showing a woman in a window.
Former Dutch Tour Winners on the Wall
Cartesiusweg, corner Thomas à Kempisweg
In 2015 Daniël Roozendaal made a painting of Joop Zoetemelk and Jan Janssen on the initiative of Marije Lieuwens. That year the Tour de France start came to Utrecht. The 2015 Tour de France was the 102nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling’s Grand Tours. The tour started on the 4th of July in Utrecht and ended on the 26th of July in Paris.
A Dutch poem
Donkere Gaard 2
On the photo on the right you can see the text of a poem painted. The poem is written by Crone Cornelius Carolus Stephan Crone (1914-1951), a Dutch writer of sad stories, mostly situated in Utrecht. It says the following in Dutch:
“Later stond hij in de lichte gaard naar de sterren te kijken. Nu had hij bij zijn verdriet
nog de hik gekregen.” which literally means: “Later he stood in the light while looking at the stars. Now he got next to his sorrow hiccups”.
Dutch groceries on a wall
Amsterdamsestraatweg 367
Artist Janisdeman painted different groceries on the walls of the Dutch supermarket Albert Heijn on the Amsterdamsestraatweg. Very nice to see!
Map for exploring street art in Utrecht
This article is part of the GPSmyCity iOS app. You can download it, read this article offline and obtain travel directions (by foot or bicycle) to the places mentioned in this article. Click here to download it.
Also excited to spot street art in Utrecht?
Of course this is just a small selection of the many murals and street art in Utrecht. On this website you can find more Utrecht street art https://utrecht.streetartcities.com.
So next time you’re in Utrecht go on a street art tour in Utrecht to admire the art!
Author: Daphne
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