around Ehrenfeld station

The Ehrenfeld neighbourhood of Cologne is a “hotspot” for urban art of all sorts. This blogpost focuses on some of the murals and graffiti that I saw close to the train station. It is one of many posts featuring art in Arheneld.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Erheneld station,by Herakut, a girl and her dog.  dog is wearing blue and white striped t shirt

below: By the German duo, Herakut, a girl and her dog in a blue and white striped shirt with words “Ohne dich würde ich mich nicht trauen” (Without you, I wouldn’t dare)

by Herakut, a girl and her dog.  dog is wearing blue and white striped t shirt.  text on mural says Ohne dich würde ich mich nicht trauen

below: This geometric creation by Zedz is beside the Lidl parking lot.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, geometric abstract by zedz on side of residential building
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, geometric abstract by zedz on side of residential building

below: “Matriarchy” is a mural by Ukrainian street artist AEC Interesni Kazki (aka Aleksei Bordusov). There are two naked women – one black woman riding a tiger and one white-ish woman sitting under a red umbrella. That’s quite the platform that shes sitting on.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, "Matriarchy" by Ukrainian street artist AEC Interesni Kazki  aka Aleksei Bordusov
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, "Matriarchy" by Ukrainian street artist AEC Interesni Kazki  aka Aleksei Bordusov, black woman sitting on tiger's back, grey person with top of head missing

below: SeiLeise (Tim Ossege)’s depiction of Cardinal Woelki’s as a Star Wars emperor wearing a dark habit and standing between two soldiers from the imperial guard of honour wearing red coverings and a fig leaf strategically placed.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, SeiLeise stencil, archbishop in black hooded robe, holding staff, accompanied by men draped in red so heads are hidden but fig leaf over groin

below: This European flag is also by SeiLeise, a flag where the gold stars are being methodically cut off and removed.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, stencil by SeiLeise, older man, seated, wearing suit cutting yellow stars off a European flag

below: “A Chinese Fairy Tale” was painted by Dabtar and A.Signl who are members of the street art crew Captain Borderline. Amnesty International and Colorrevoltion e.V. were also involved. Apparently the mural is a statement (or to raise awareness of?) the human rights situation in China. It dates from 2014.

restaurant patio in front of a wall with urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, A Chinese Fairy Tale" painted by the street art crew Captain Borderline, A.Signl and Dabtar, dragon puppet, panda mask,
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station,  A Chinese Fairy Tale" painted by the street art crew Captain Borderline, A.Signl and Dabtar, dragon puppet, panda mask,

below: This 3D large mosaic head is an earlier work of Captain Borderline (2011).

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, 3D mosaic head by Captain Borderline, big white eyes and nose, red lips, closed mouth, big ears, bald
3D mosaic head by Captain Borderline, close up of nose, red lips, closed mouth

below: Once again, another Captain Borderline painting – this time they collaborated with local artist, Rakaposhii (mural ‘Mystical Wall’, shown in 4 photos)

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, mystical wall mural by Captain Borderline and Rakaposhii,
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, part of mystical wall mural by Captain Borderline and Rakaposhii, two women, in black and white
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, part of mystical wall mural by Captain Borderline and Rakaposhii, building with balcony railing, black and white tiled roof
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, part of mystical wall mural by Captain Borderline and Rakaposhii,

below: This long wall was designed together by two street artists as part of the first City-Leaks Festival in 2011 – Swiss artist Smash137 and Dutch artist Zedz (see above mural). It’s title is “Musikalische Komposition”. Between when this picture was taken (October 2025) and now (September 2026) the building was demolished.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, mural by smash 137 and zedz
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, mural by smash 137 and zedz

below: “Häusliche Gewalt” (Domestic Violence) was created by street artist RIPO (aka Max Rippon) in July 2014

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, Häusliche Gewalt (Domestic Violence) was created by street artist RIPO (aka Max Rippon)

below: Lichtstrasse with RIPO’s mural along with a couple of paintings higher up on the adjacent building.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, street scene, Häusliche Gewalt (Domestic Violence) was created by street artist RIPO (aka Max Rippon)

below: In accessible – murals painted on a wall that is now behind a fence…. one of the pitfalls of art on temporary structures.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station

below: Potted plants, and/or plants in colourful vases surround a person who seems to be removing an animal (leopard?) mask in a mural painted by Gaupo Sapo (composed of YuMu, Krashkid, and Alexander Isakov) in 2017.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, Potted plants, and/or plants in colourful vases surround a person who seems to be removing an animal (leopard?) mask in a mural painted by Gaupo Sapo

below: A very happy spray paint can admires its work?

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, mural behind a fence

below: Posters with messages like “We are all brainwashed” surrounded by winged phones and television emitting concentric waves. Another message from Vanessa Slagter is “Grow Women Power – Grow where you want. Not where they want to see you”.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, three posters by Vanessa Slagter

below: “Any Europeans should see behind the wall” by the artist Benten.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, large monotone mural, Any Europeans should see behind the wall" by the artist Benten, woman holding hands up in front of her face

below: “Believe Israeli women” and “Make street art great again”. The artist’s ‘signature’ looks like biebezvrfarbe.rise

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, green poster with image of woman holding a sign that says make street art great again, also a small sticker says believe israeli women as well as small round sticker saying all we need is peace

below: A man and his hair.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, older painting of a man on a wall where plants have grown over the top of the wall and look like his hair

below: Vincent was painted on his hair even though this is Sid Vicious (of the Sex Pistols). This stencil Sid with a can of Fanta in his hand is by Petit Agite. The pink heart is an add-on.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, black and white stencil, large, of Sid vicious from punk rock band Sex Pistols.  he is holding a can of Fanta pop.  other small slap graffiti around him
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, grey mannequin lying on ground outside door that is covered with graffiti, wall beside door is also covered

below: A guitar player – with legs doing some awkward things!

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, faded painting of a guitar player
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, pink rectangle, face with oval slitty eyes and rectangular mouth, black dots on cheeks and chin

below: Four little bits and pieces – A NanE popsicle with a goofy toothy expression. A black and white Bustr (?) who seems to be gaping wide mouthed at the tiny woman’s portrait. The latter was made by Henry Paulson who seems obsessed with three or four young woman whose very similar portraits can be seen in a LOT of places. Last, top right is Little Vandal Cube by Reth.

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, Four little bits and pieces - A NanE popsicle with a goofy toothy expression.  A black and white Bustr who seems to be gaping wide mouthed at the tiny woman's portrait.  The latter was made by Henry Paulson who seems obsessed with three or four young woman whose very similar portraits can be seen in a LOT of places.  Last, top right is Little Vandal Cube by Reth.
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, large paste up with blaw, blaw, blaw in a text bubble
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, collection of slaps

below: More Henry Paulson faces… some normal, some with big lips, some with mismatched eyes…

urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, arrangement of stickers with woman's portrait, all byHenry Paulson, all rather similar black hair and blue eyes,
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, street scene
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, train bridge over a street with traffic, the words love and peace painted on the bridge
urban art, street art, in Cologne Germany, near Ehrenfeld station, sticker with a pigeon head, yellow beak, wearing a white shirt with a collar

Photos taken October 2025

Hochstadenring

… is a street in Bonn that ends in a dead end (for traffic). There are buildings only on one side of the street because the other side is a concrete wall that helps support Guido-Westerwelle-Brucke as it rises to form a bridge over the railway tracks.

below: Little long-nosed knee pads for someone with big feet.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany - lower part of a mural, big feet with white socks and laced shoes, yellow knee pads that look like faces with long noses.  Urban art by Falko.

below: Cheap Art (& Factorie 45) are located here. Also, there is body (of sorts) above those big feet. “Legs Alien” was painted by Falko.

pale blue electric scooter parked in front of street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, two murals, one is a tall alien character and the other is an abstract with a realistic brown animal face, poster for Cheap art

below: Books coming together to form a bridge – this is “World Construction” by Anthony Dipaola and Adolfo Torrico. There are 17 books in the stack and each one represents a Sustainability Goal such as No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Gender Equality, and Affordable Energy, etc. It is painted on the side of Kult 41 cultural center (and beside Bonn’s Central Mosque).

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, mural on the side of building, blue sky and water background, books numbered 1 through 17, forming a curve that leads into a bridge that a child is walking on

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, mural by Marie Hesse, blue tropical birds surrounded by lots of greenery and trees

below: This mural by Marie Hesse is a recent addition to the neighbourhood. It is a tribute to Expressionist painter August Macke (1887-1914) and is her interpretation of a Macke painting “Mädchen mit Blauen Vogeln (Girl with Blue Bird) (the museum, August Macke Haus is nearby).

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany,  mural by Marie Hesse, blue tropical birds surrounded by lots of greenery and trees, on a street with lots of red and white construction barricades

below: Big brown eyes, with a tack in the bottom corner of one.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, large pink face of a brown eyed man, lower part s covered with orange and yellow paint

below: Smile!

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, with the word smile beside it

below: Another Smile! This one looks like weather – there’s lightning, and raindrops, and clouds.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, another smile face

below: I almost missed it – This Petit Astronaute by Seileise (aka Tim Ossege) was hiding behind some very heavy pieces of metal.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, black and white stencil of an astronaut and three chickadees by Sieleise

below: Because I was trying to balance the metal pieces while holding my camera, the photo is not at the best angle.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany,black and white stencil of an astronaut and three chickadees by Sieleise

below: Purple lines, like purple crayon drawings.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, purple line drawing of a face

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, blue circle with flowers

below: Mahala

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany

below: A big toothy grin, popsicle by NanE

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, y Nan E, a popsicle with a face, two big white teeth

below: The south end of Hochstadenring – vacant lot on one side, concrete wall on the other.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany

below: Turn around, and look back where you came from.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany

below: An alien life form and lots of scribbles.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany

below: From the end of Hochstadenring you can see the next street over, Heerstrasse, and two faded older mural dating from 2015.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, two large murals painted in 2015

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany

below: A closer look at the one on the left shows this scene

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany

below: There was a flowing grid of different colours on the mural on the right but most of it has been covered with tags.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany

below: Street art of a slightly different sort – the next two photos are large whimsical sculptures that were probably made from found objects. They add some fun to the courtyard of Kult 41.

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, sculpture of a big mouthed fish made from found objects

below: It would mooooo if it could……

street art on Hochstadenring in Bonn Germany, sculpture of a cow made from found objects

street art in Bonn Germany, on the wall under a bridge

Photos taken 31 October 2025

barber shop wheatpaste

below: In the Belgian Quarter of Cologne, where the streets are named after Belgian cities, there is a barber shop (and hair salon) where the exterior wall is covered with paper.

a woman sits on a small stool outside of a barber shop, on her phone, all of exterior wall is covered with graffiti slaps, stickers, and paste ups,

below: Blue hair, purple hair, and a fat yellow bumble bee.

paper graffiti on an exterior wall, a woman with very blue hair that is tied up in two buns, one on each side of her had, also a big fat yellow bumble bee and a light blue doll by angry amily and lady mkei, with purple hair

below: These are Angry Amily drawings on brown paper

angry amily long haired young girl with green hat, beside brown teddy bear character, another fat yellow bumble bee

below: Another section of the wall – The portrait, lower left, is probably about Sophie Scholl and the white rose movement. Scholl (1921-1943) was a German student who was active in the White Rose Movement, an anti-Nazi organization at the time of Hitler’s rule. She was executed on 22 Feb 1943.

below: Evyrein’s Elon Musk/Mask is in the middle. Notice the little Hitler mustache. Also, the placement of Elon’s body over the stiletto heels is marvelous! To the right of Elon is a little pink octopus hanging onto a red heart by 8arms2hug, a maker of octopus-themed street art.

below: Cats and rappers. Garfield is on his phone while under a three-eyed cat. The three men are Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell of the hip hop group RUN-DMC. The group was formed in 1983.

below: The images of people on cans of spray paint is the work of The Postman. Much of his art focuses on celebrities, many of whom, such as Grace Jones and Sid Vicious pictured here, have appeared on these spray paint cans. Tweet cat (now sporting a German fedora) sneaks into the photo too.

below: Many little things can be seen up near the top of the wall.

below: “The tide is high; my love is low” by Behind Green Eyes, is reminiscent of lyrics from song by Blondie, “The tide is high but I’m holdin’ on, I’m gonna be your number one.”

spam is the signature on blue graffiti, text graffiti by behind green eyes that says The tide is high my love is low but I'm hoping on, other text graffiti that says try before you die.

below: A series of cartoonish characters in various colours form a column beside a window. Lots of merde there too but I am not sure if that is part of the original drawings or if they were added after.

paste up graffiti on a wall, 7 cartoonish characters in a column, all in different colours, the word merde has been written over each one in white ink or white marker,

below: A large blue cat by Metraeda prowls beneath a portrait in shades of brown.

two large paper wheatpaste, one is portrai of brown girl with long brown hair, and the other is a large blue cat (cougar, bobcat, lion?)

below: Pope with a gun. Pope Benedict XVI in fact. The hat in this picture is the same as the hat worn by Benedict XVI in the picture used by Wikipedia. It is an image of Jesus holding a cross while he sits with two sheep.

graffiti image of pope benedict the 16th, holding a large pistol gun

below: Zoologne, aka Marcel Kreutzer is the creator of the small round sticker with the oval yellow happy face standing beside a plant. There are quite a few similar stickers all over Cologne. As for the fiddler, I have no idea who produced that image.

slaps and paste ups on a wall, a man in black pants and white shirt, playing a violin. sticker by nanE, another sticker by zoologne,

below: The signature seems to be RUDE and might be your opinion of the image as well.

RUDE stencil graffiti, young girl vomiting

below: An unhappy green bomb with a microphone. Or at least it looks like a comic drawing of a bomb – that way I can say that it’s unhappy because it’s bombing on stage.

below: Reading cross-legged on the floor.

paste up by angry amily, black drawing on brown paper.

below: Bee nice or buzz off, as well as Support your local Antifa.

slaps and wheatpaste on a wall in the Belgian quarter of Cologne

below: Diskettenlaufwerk is actaully the name of an Ultimate Frisbee team. NanE (or Nanelife)

slaps and wheatpaste on a wall in the Belgian quarter of Cologne

below: Clint Eastwood is portrayed as The Savior in this paste-up. Actually there is quite a bit here – a very small pink Ghostcat, a yellow smiley face, a NanE slice of bread, “Love knows no conditions” text by BehindGreenEyes, as well as a pink and black portrait by Pixmen… and more

stickers and pasteups on a wall in Cologne or Koln, urban art, Clint Eastwood as the savior, loves knows no conditions, a yellow happy face,

below: A cute little girl and an even cuter little red block with googly eyes.

pasteups on a wall in Cologne, little girl in orange dress, beer de froo, small red block with googly eyes

below: More paper.

many stickers  pasteups on a wall in Cologne,   The corona brothers, nane apple faces, paradoxon, black and white women's portraits,

below: Skulls and more

pasteups on a wall in Cologne, chicken, heart Joiny in blue, man, Nane fish, black bomb 4 skulls,

pasteups on a wall in Cologne or Koln, love rocks, a black and white portrait of a man,

below: It looks like a chicken in orange and blue as well as an anatomical heart with slight modifications. Perhaps that’s where his heart lies, or where it longs to be.

pasteups on a wall in Cologne, orange and blue chicken, anatomical heart divided into sections,

below: A big hug for Mopsy! Lots of love for an amazing character!

graffiti stickers on two metal poles,  On the left at the top, are four monsters, 2 are purple, one is turquoise, and the fourth is yellow.  All have big teeth.  On the bottom, an orange cat is giving pug Mopsy a big hug.  On the other pole is a weird green cow with text eat more weed

below: Encouraging words by Luna in a white circle with an Australian themed sticker by Tweet below it (kangaroo, emu and balloons!). On the other pipe are two creatures. The one on the bottom is a collaboration between MyCuteCreatures and Joiny.

4 graffiti stickers on 2 metal poles.  Words by Luna, aka wortevonluna, in a round white sticker, another sticker is by tween street art with a kangaroo, an emu, some flowers, and lots of balloons.  Another stricker id a my cute creatures image“Sei doch mal – Nicht so streng mit dir – Du hast die wahl – immer, jetzt und hier” br> Don’t be so hard on yourself. You have a choice, always, now and here.

Photos taken November 2025