Valparaiso, Chile: Where Street Art is an Industry

Every city in the world has certainly seen its share of graffiti over the years; even ancient Rome was home to taggers. But in the past half-century some ‘unauthorized’ decoration has crossed the line into art, and has even created stars such as Banksy and the late Keith Haring.

But it’s possible that Valparaiso, Chile, has become the true capital of street art, not because it has star artists or the most paintings but because it has both legalized it and lionized it, turning it into one of the city’s prime attractions for visitors.

Most of Valparaiso’s street art shows off vibrant colors and swirling, changing, almost psychedelic forms, often filled with environmental symbolism—fish breathing through respirators, forests reclaiming cities and more.

Some of it is more “representational,” showing recognizable human forms with varying emotions, often anger. sadness, or pride in older traditions.

Some seems to take leave of protest, honor, politics and the like to either copy familiar cartoon characters or images from 1960s psychedelic comic art.

You don’t have to go very far to see it: the downtown port area, especially between Plaza Sotomayor and the big container ship port are full of it, but there are also many examples in the hillside neighborhoods that surround the port. A quick search online turns up dozens of walking tours organized to help visitors see some of the best.

My favorite: this trio of skeletal cyclists, part of a nearly block-long Day of the Dead wall.

Street art of a different sort: a figure still powerful in political debate in Chile, Salvador Allende’s cutout appears at different points in the city.

Here are some more of my favorite images…

And one that caused us some puzzlement, since the artist, who sells canvases as well as painting walls, has cats hung all around his sign advertising dogs. The dogs are on the other side of the doorway…but there’s no cat sign there.