The painted walls of Vitry-sur-Seine

Starting point and access: Vitry-sur-Seine station.
- RER - Line C, on the section between Paris and Étampes / Dourdan / Massy-Palaiseau. Take the Rue Pierre Semard exit, on the side of platform 1 bis, where trains from Paris stop (if arriving from the opposite direction, platform 2 bis, take the underpass).
- Bus - Routes 180, 182, 217.

To avoid having to go back and forth between sections, the artworks are listed directly in the description, identified simply by their title in italics. Where a photograph of the artwork in question has been taken, a link has been provided. N.B. In some places, there are so many artworks that it is impossible to mention them all.

(S) On leaving the station, head north towards a hotel whose prominent façade is decorated with a mural called Robotique. Then turn left, go under the railway bridge and head for the main station exit. Cross the avenue at the pedestrian crossing. Then turn right and then left into Rue Émile Zola.

Note a painting on the right-hand side depicting a processor. The street bends to the right and leads onto a small square (geometric patterns). Then turn left onto Avenue Victor Hugo (painted garage doors on the left-hand side).

At the end, cross Avenue de la République and turn left onto Rue Gabriel Péri. Note the depiction of a jungle on the right, then cross Rue de l’Yser. Next, note the colourful patterns. Continue straight ahead, ignoring the streets on the right, and you will reach a junction (traffic lights).

(1) Then take the^second on the right, Avenue Paul Vaillant-Couturier, preferably on the left-hand pavement. On the^first left, Rue Neuve, note the colourful shapes. Continue along Avenue Paul Vaillant-Couturier, cross Rue Désiré Granet and take the next left onto Avenue André Maginot. Cross Avenue Jean-Jaurès and go straight on. At the next junction (painted garage doors), turn right into Rue des Marguerites.

Cross Avenue Guy Môquet, pass under a porch and emerge onto Place Jean Martin. Take a brief stroll around the square, several of whose walls are painted. Return to Avenue Guy Môquet and follow it to the left. At the traffic lights, cross Avenue Jean Jaurès.

(2) Turn right to see a bird of prey on the corner of Avenue Paul Vaillant-Couturier. Retrace your steps.

(2) Cross Avenue Paul Vaillant-Couturier at the traffic lights, then Rue Louise-Aglaé Cretté. Follow Avenue Henri Barbusse on the right-hand pavement and pass the square of the same name ( pencil sculpture). Then, through a grille, note a mural paying tribute to Pierre and Marie Curie.

At the traffic lights, turn left to cross the avenue and note, opposite and high up, a mural depicting half a face. On the other side, first turn left then right and cross the market square, walking alongside a building on your right. When you reach the foot of the church, turn right then left to reach its entrance.

(3) Then turn right and walk some distance along Avenue de l’Abbé Roger Derry. After about fifty metres, go through a small gate on the right and follow Allée Arthur Teisseire between the brick buildings. You will come out onto Avenue Ambroise Croizat; follow it to the right as it climbs slightly.

Just before Rue du Château (on the right-hand side), turn left onto Rue Germain Defresne (poorly marked on the OSM map) and pass the Bourse du Travail building on your right. You’ll come out onto Rue Audigeois and notice a mixed-race couple opposite.

Follow the street to the right and immediately note a woman with butterflies on your right. Walk up Rue Audigeois and note a jaguar and a bearded vulture on the left, then a Rastafarian with two roosters. Next, through some railings, note the mural entitled Black and White.

(4) Immediately afterwards, take a sharp left and follow Allée du Petit Tonneau, walking alongside the painted walls. At a junction, turn right into an alley with two street lamps in the middle. You’ll come out onto a square with a tall tower on the left. First turn right then left and walk alongside a building on your right.

At the corner (woman with rooster and chameleon), first turn right then left to pass between two buildings and go down a flight of steps. Cross a lane, continue straight ahead, pass under a porch (No. 3) and come out onto a square with an abstract sculpture in the centre.

Then turn right and then left to walk along Avenue Youri Gagarine. At the traffic lights, cross Avenue de l’Abbé Roger Derry and continue straight ahead (note the Town Hall on the other side).

(5) After about a hundred metres, turn left to go round a car park. At the corner, turn right onto a gravel path and walk along the right-hand side of the car park. At the end, enter a U-shaped courtyard and walk alongside the buildings with painted walls. You’ll come to a portraitof André Malraux and, behind it at the foot of a building, a geisha with a raven on her head.

Then turn right into a passage between two buildings, in the opposite direction to that indicated by a signpost. You’ll come out onto a street; follow it to the right. At the next junction (a colourful female face), turn left onto Rue de la Glacière.

At the end, turn left into Rue Antoine-Marie Colin. Go straight on and note a cat at No. 20, and Santa Muerte at No. 10. At the end, turn right into Avenue de l’Abbé Roger Derry. Note a woman on the right with her hand in her hair.

(6) Take the^first right, Rue Saint-Germain, and walk past a façade decorated with curves and arabesques. At the corner, turn right into a car park to see several painted works at the foot of the building, including a soldier from 1917 and a young woman in a jacket.

Retrace your steps back to Avenue de l’Abbé Roger Derry.

(6) Follow the avenue to the right. There are numerous paintings to see, including a red panda next to the entrance to a building and, on two posts, the footballer Neymar and Captain Haddock.

At the crossroads, turn right onto Rue du 18 Juin 1940. After about forty metres, turn right between two buildings (on the one on the left, there are figures with computers). Opposite a dragon, first turn right then left (water scene on the right) and enter a covered gallery. Walk through this richly decorated gallery, featuring notably a portrait of a bearded man and a violent scene between a man wearing a hat and a cat.

When you come to a woman’s face, turn left into Square Jacques Barthe, go down a flight of steps and walk along the right-hand side of a building. Go up a few steps and note the peppers and toothbrushes. Turn right at the corner of the building and look at its decorated entrance. Return to Rue Saint-Germain and follow it to the left for about twenty metres.

(7) Then turn left, go through a metal gate and walk alongside the school buildings on your right. Pass a bust of Irène Joliot-Curie on the left and, on the right, you’ll find a wall painted with characters in the style of Oliver Twist.

Retrace your steps and go through the gate again.

(7) Continue straight ahead, passing a small open space on your left with two basketball hoops supported by small painted walls. At the corner of a building (a tribute to José Martí), turn left and walk alongside a car park on your right.

At the end, follow the Passage Irène et Frédéric Joliot-Curie. Walk past a sports hall with painted walls on the left (Vitry-Party) and note a hare-man on the right. Continue straight ahead through the passage between a public garden (on the left) and a wall (on the right) painted all the way along with a wide variety of themes: a rose, a shark, junk food and a TV, a smiling sun, a diamond in a rainbow, etc. At the end (mural on the right), turn left onto Rue Camille Groult.

(8) At the traffic lights (painted building opposite on the left), follow Rue de Choisy to the left until you reach a painting of a toucan. Retrace your steps.

(8) Continue straight on along Rue de Choisy. On the right-hand side, walk alongside a public garden, cross Rue des Granges and then walk alongside the Cité Rosenberg with its brick buildings.

At the next junction, turn right into Rue du 8 Mai 1945. After the post office, turn left, cross a car park and head towards the colourful façade of the municipal swimming pool. Look out for a metal gate on the left leading to a small car park. If the gate is open, enter the car park and head towards a pair of eyes staring at you. Then turn right to view the murals Bicéphale and Bicéphale 2 on the wall and the external staircase.

Retrace your steps back to Rue de Choisy, at the corner of the post office. Then follow Rue de Choisy to the right until you reach a crossroads.

(9) Then take the^first right, Rue Gretillat, then the^first left, Rue Georges Martin. Next, take the^first right, Rue Frédéric Joliot-Curie. Follow this winding residential street. At the end, turn left onto Rue Ampère. At the T-junction, first turn right then left to follow Rue Balzac.

Turn left onto Rue Christine Pizan (pedestrian^street ) and, at the end, turn right onto Rue Colette. At the T-junction, turn left onto Rue Olympe de Gouges. At the next junction (wall mural on the right), turn left onto Rue Elsa Triolet. Take the^first right, Allée de l’Horizon (pedestrianised). At the end, rejoin Rue de Choisiy and follow it to the left. Go straight on until you reach the junction you passed earlier.

(9) Then turn right into Rue Victor Ruiz. On the left-hand side, walk past a school complex and note a moustachioed figure. Continue straight ahead until you reach a crossroads. Cross the D274 road, then cross a car park keeping to the right. At the end, turn right and you will immediately reach Les Ardoines station (E).

To get back home:
- RER - Line C, towards Paris (Platform 2a, direct access) or Etampes / Dourdan / Massy-Palaiseau (Platform 1a, use the underpass).
- Bus - Route 182.

Train timetables: check the Transilien website.

A good pair of trainers is all you need for this urban route.

Bars, restaurants and shops along the route, particularly on Paul Vaillant-Couturier, Henri Barbusse and Youri Gagarine avenues.

A detailed map is required (at the very least the one accompanying this description).

Walk undertaken by the author on 22 January 2020.

Painted or tagged walls, and other murals, the vast majority of which date from the 2010s, are the main focus of this urban walk. The development of street art in Vitry is the result of both the local pioneering role played by the graffiti artist C215 and the council’s support for this form of expression. See, for example, the relevant page on the council’s official website.

The density of the works is impressive and it is impossible to cover everything! In the description, the main sites visited are highlighted and the relevant information (artist, year, etc.) is provided in the captions of the photos taken and published on the website, to which a link leads.

For further details, it is worth consulting the “Trompe l’oeil” website, particularly its interactive map of Vitry-sur-Seine. By clicking on a marker on the map, you will find a summary of the artwork in question, which includes a link to a detailed description.

Many thanks to the team behind the "Trompe l'oeil" website: the map mentioned above was a great help in planning this itinerary, and most of the information in the photo captions comes from it.

Amidst this sea of street art, you can visit the beautiful Church of Saint-Germain (12th–14th centuries) (3).