Spray Cans & Comic Strips: Is Brussels Europe's Street Art Capital?

A personal Journey from Banksy to Brussels: discovering how street art can capture the soul of a city.

From Banksy to Brussels

Street art is something I feel like I've grown up with. I was born and raised in an uninspiring town where the opening of a mural on a busy junction in the town centre made the front pages of the local paper - it was big, the whole side of a three story townhouse, and charted parts of the history of the town that, even I as a local, barely knew - but it caught my eye every time I went past and for some reason I grew to like it.

That town was Swindon, a pretty dull town with a bad reputation on the edge of the West Country in England, and only an hour away from the bright lights, big city vibe, and birthplace of the wunderkind of the street art world, Banksy - Bristol. Many hazy, booze-filled nights of my late-teens and early-twenties were watched over by his work; be that Mild Mild West overlooking the independent and rowdy nights out in Stokes Croft, or Well Hung Lover dangling out of a window over Frogmore Street on the first nights I had in the gay-clubs along that street.

Thus, my love of street art blossomed, and still today I find myself looking up at blank walls with curiosity, knowing that both dark corners and huge walls alike can be made into something beautiful, or say something profound or political, with a lick of paint and a creative eye.

Manneken Peace

A Comic Book City

Brussels, for me, feels like the colourful embodiment of this. Here, no street art is hidden, but it's celebrated. You'll find it proudly adorning buildings on the busiest streets in the city centre, proudly facing some of the city's most famous attractions, and highlighting the Belgians' pride in their history, heritage, and irreverent and eccentric culture.

The most famous series of murals in the city are the Comic Book route, an out and out celebration of the world famous Belgian comic book tradition, something that Brussels played a foundational role in the development of. Ever since the days of Hergé and Payo, (and their creations Tintin and The Smurfs respectively) Belgium has paved the way in comic art and have become a deeply embedded part of the culture here - seen not just as children's entertainment but as a respected art form too - often being referred to as the ninth art form alongside architecture, sculpture, painting, music, dance, poetry, theatre, and cinema. It's no surprise then, that there are 60 building-sized murals celebrating this comic book culture, from a four-story Spirou and Fantasio fresco near the glittering, golden domed Palais de Justice to the mighty Tintin mural just around the corner from the cheeky Manneken Pis fountain.

Tintin Mural in Brussels

From the 90s to Now - A City Transformed by Art

"But why is there so much street art?", asked Ash, as we strolled past more smaller scale satirical art, using an iPhone instead of an apple to tempt Eve in the Garden of Eden. In short it's down to Brussels' full-scale adoption of the medium as a way to renew and invigorate parts of the city that were suffering from post-industrial decay. That side of Brussels still exists, as it does in many cities, and since the 1990's work has been underway to improve parts of the city through regeneration schemes and by introducing more public art - the street art scene here being embraced to revitalise neglected walls and spaces and turn them into open-air galleries celebrating Belgian culture, rather than leaving them to crumble. In places where street art already existed, instead of erasing the grit, the city chose to lean into it, protecting existing work and commissioning new works to integrate this visual storytelling into the fabric of everyday life - creating a city where art and activism, tradition, and innovation coexist out in the open, rather than being shoved into dimly-lit corners.

Walking around, it is clear to see just how much this mantra has been adopted within the whole city, transforming once-dodgy underpasses and alleyways into an Instagrammer's paradise with bright colours, fun motifs, and subtle political sentiments, brightening up what can be labelled a 'grey and bureaucratic' city with comic whimsy and thought-provoking art. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that Brussels took us by surprise. It's not the same as our beloved Bristol - Banksy and his contemporaries have created a landscape of raw, gritty, and satirical murals in unexpected places, tucked behind industrial units and in neighbourhoods well off of the usual tourist trail - but having a city so wholeheartedly embrace something brings a different element to the art. Yes, it's not landing strong messages around the ills of capitalism and gentrification, but it is playful, fun, and celebratory.

The Mont des Arts and KBR's Unexpected Canvas

Our favourite mural in Brussels: a huge abstract black and white mural nestled at the bottom of the Mont des Arts called Luxuria, on the wall of the Royal Library of Belgium. It was painted by a Welsh street artist called Phlegm, and is a tribute to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 450 years after his death. It's sinuous lines and surreal detail capturing one of Bruegel's Seven Deadly Sins and celebrating even more Belgian greatness in a provocative and arresting way. The artist's Welsh ancestry, being just a stones-throw across the River Severn from Bristol, was not lost on me and I wondered if the anti-establishment path that Banksy paved in the 90's and early 00's gelled with this level of publicly endorsed and commissioned street art - could the grittiness of Bristol and the embracement of Brussels work in harmony, or were they at odds with each other?

Luxuria, on the wall of the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels

A Capital of Contrasts

Later that day, ready to jump on the metro system at De Brouckere, we passed by a sign for The World of Banksy, a museum dedicated to the works of the great doyen of the Street Art World here in Brussels. Except it's not officially endorsed by the great man, and none of the work inside is authentic - but are replicas of sometimes lost, sometimes forgotten. Even so, peering inside it is clearly popular and a wide variety of street art lovers from every background seemed to be enjoying the spectacle of seeing so many iconic representations of Banksy's work together in the one place.

The purist in me knows through the large-scale endorsement of street art in Brussels, that something along the way - the freedom, controversy, and grittiness - has been lost. But then I think to the Banksy murals in Bristol which I have stood at alone, or have seen vandalised, or have seen removed by over-officious city council workers, and I wonder whether something different is gained - unbridled fun.

So maybe Brussels is the European Capital of Street Art, not just because of it's overt embracing of the medium, but because people from far and wide come here to revel in how joyful street art can be. Brussels might not shout as loudly as Berlin or London as a city, but it tells it's stories in colour and isn't afraid to put this forward on full display. It puts murals celebrating gender expression, equality, and resistance alongside those celebrating Belgian culture and history, and paints it soul on it's walls for everyone to see - and that's what makes it feel so real.

If you're into cities that challenge the ordinary and celebrate creativity in every corner, follow us at @Biggayworldtravel for more unexpected stories, colourful finds, and queer perspectives from around the globe.