around Ehrenfeld station

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Mary C

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

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

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

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

Kiefernstrasse houses

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Mary C

Kiefernstrasse translates to Pine tree street… it is a street in Dusseldorf that has history. It is lined with apartment blocks that started life as homes for workers in the local factories steel works in the late 1800s. Some were damaged during the war. In the mid 1900s they became home to squatters and other “left wing” groups. Now many of them have been fixed up and/or covered with large colourful murals.

row of buildings, 4 storeys, all covered with different colourful murals, kiefernstrasse (pine tree street) in Dusseldorf Germany

below: He’s hiding behind a tree now – a mural that M05K and Johanna OLGA painted in 2013

upper part of mural, behind a tree, person in blue head scarf, holding something yellow and large,

below: Bare feet on long skinny legs stick out of pink pants.

below: At street level, groups of strange characters in black outfits are standing around. Except for the little one, they are all wearing hats shaped like pyramids.

part of larger mural, three smaller creatures standing at street level, black outfits with just face showing, and pyramidal shaped hats, one hat is yellow and the other is pink. one of the characters is much shorter than the others and he has no hat

green rat with large pink eras painted on concrete, beside bare foot that is part of a larger mural, rat partially behind a real garbage bin

below: There are quite a few signs that help tell the story of Kiefernstrasse. The headline on the poster below is ” 1992 Wandbilder sind lebendige Kunstwerke” (= Murals are living works of art) and the article talks about 1992 and how it was the year that Klaus Klinger, Daniel Pulido, and a group of youths painted “Everything’s Bananas” at number 37. This was the first mural on the street; it no longer exists.

framed picture of an article about the history of Kiefernstrasse, 1992, the year the first mural was painted here

apartment blocks covered in murals, kiefernstraase

residential building on kiefernstrasse covered with street art that looks like a large red honeycomb

below: Daniel MacLloyd painted this large blue bird.

below: This gable is covered by a marine scene – including turtles swimming in the water – was painted by Ami One

gable mural by Ami One in Dusseldorf, marine scene including turtles swimming in the water

below: Bright orange faces!

below: The Dusseldorf monkey is also here.

yellow monkey crouching beside a mural with orange people

below: And again!

graffiti on a red wall - yellow stencil of a monkey holding a paint brush with his tail and a bucket in his hands, beside a paste up that says evolution in the same font as used by coca cola

below: A bright red door, surrounded by….

Kiefernstrasse houses, street level, leaves falling on wet sidewalk, one door entrance is bright red, walls have red dragon with gold clouds,

below: … a long red dragon winding its way through golden clouds.

below: Käferhouse, or Beetle House, by Till Martin Köster and Christian Bolte, 2008. Insects galore! beetles, ants, roaches, bedbugs…. including some with human faces on their backs.

4 storey residential building covered in paintings of insects, beetles, ants, and others both real and imaginary crawling around between the windows, mural in Dusseldorf, some insects have human faces

4 storey residential building covered in paintings of insects, cockroaches, beetles, ants, and others both real and imaginary, mural in Dusseldorf, some insects have human faces

below: One of the many interesting smaller artworks found among the larger murals is this pair of kids in the playground riding their elephants and playing at war, or protest, or being social justice warriors… your choice. Google wants me to believe that it is a Banksy but I am not falling for it.

small graffiti, realistic (i.e. photo) image of two kids on springy elephants in a playground, one has balaclava and happy face flag, the other is wearing a metal helmet

below: Another social commentary artwork. This time a girl has plenty to eat (and takes a picture of it) while the person beside her goes without.

below: A white unicorn with laser vision – the little white sign painted into the mural says “Laser Rainbow Unicorn & Robocat Rider”. Apparently cats riding unicorns in space is not an unusual theme. The other little sign says “Kevin Gucci” – is that the artist?

part of a mural on kiefernstrasse, white unicorn with laser eyes, and two cats, one sitting in the corner, and one with robot mechanical leg and carrying a flaming sword

below: Strange things are happening on the balcony! There’s even a sheep…. but wait, that’s not a real balcony, instead the artist has employed what is known as “trompe-l’œil style” – it’s painted to look like a wooden balcony structure.

mural in "trompe-l'œil style" - it's painted to look like a wooden balcony structure.

below: At street level, under the balcony seen above, is an alcove for a garage entrance – but it seems like a green police van is parked there already! I wonder what the gnome mechanics are up to!

mural of 2 gnomes in red caps and blue tops, working on a green police van. one gnome is holding a wrench,

some of the painted houses in kiefernstrasse dusseldorf

small yellow and brown painted animal on a balcony, beside a wall painted in rainbow colors with an image of the planet earth

below: 2007’s addition to the street was a (mostly) monochrome mural that is part puzzle pieces and part little figures. Ben Mathis was responsible for creating the ‘grid’, while MaJo Brothers painted the figures such as this robot holding a cracked egg. Was it dropped? Or is it hatching? 2007.

monochrome mural that is part puzzle pieces and part little figures. Ben Mathis was responsible for creating the 'grid', while MaJo Brothers painted the figures such as this robot holding a cracked egg

large image of the urban art mural, monochrome mural that is part puzzle pieces and part little figures. Ben Mathis was responsible for creating the 'grid', while MaJo Brothers painted the figures such as this robot holding a cracked egg

below: Splotches of blue

below: The characters (animals) in this mural are Marsupilami. They first appeared in the Belgian comic book “Spirou” in 1952 in a story below: The characters (animals) in this mural are Marsupilami. They first appeared in the Belgian comic book “Spirou” in 1952 in a story written by André Franquin. In the story, a man delivers a mysterious package from South America and as it turns out, the package contains a baby Marsupilami. Franquin continued writing about their adventures until the 1970s. In the 1980s the characters were re-invented and found themselves in TV episodes and video games.

marsupilami painting on a green door, a yellow animal with black spots

below: The next two paintings flank a doorway, one on either side – an equestrian statue (i.e. a man on a horse) and a woman from time gone by but with anachronistic cans of spray paint in her hands.

mural of a man on a horse, equestrian statue — This image shows another of the articles documenting the history of the area. This one describes an event in 1919 where a train was robbed outside Dusseldorf by a gang of about 30 men, led by “A communist from Kiefernstrasse” known as Steil. He was subsequently shot by the police and died from his wounds.

mural of a woman in medieval clothing, but with a can of spray paint in each hand

below: Stencil, boy with a large helmet – ready to be an astronaut. Once upon a time there were a few more details visible in the helmet. This ‘Space Travel’ was made by Seileise aka Tim Ossege.

below: Everyone’s painting these days!

a framed poster describing part of the history of kiefernstrasse beside graffiti stencil of a young girl wearing a covid mask, with a large paint brush in her hand — Another poster tells the story of the first Streetfest here in 1982 where the greengrocer’s shop was turned into a cafe with a borrowed sound system.

part of larger mural, person with a red hat and a pacifier in his or her mouth

below: It almost looks like a giant crossword puzzle.

below: Neptune swims upside down

below:The Reds are reaching out, wanting to run? looking for something?

below: He doesn’t look very happy.

below: Jesus carries a goat

old railway car sits beside sidewalk, covered with street art including an image of Jesus carrying a goat

below: On an upper wall, a golden Buddha sits and meditates.

Buddha in seated meditation pose, gold, mural on wall in kiefernstraase

below: “Love will tear us apart” more than once.

little pieces of graffiti on a wall beside a large mural with orange faces, two stickers that say love will tear us apart,

below: Together in one place, four little pieces by JoinyStreetArt (round white face), sm111le, Karl Heinz Swaggert (hairy fellow on the left), and Metraeda (pink cat). If you have been following this blog, you will probably recognize some of the names and their corresponding styles.

black wall, graffiti, 4 small pieces, by JoinyStreetArt (round white face), sm111le (smiling radish), Karl Heinz Swaggert (hairy fellow on the left), and Metraeda (pink cat)

below: Bad Goat, with a strand of green vine and a third eye

bad goat graffiti, a white goat head with black horns and three eyes, graffiti

below: “Nothing else matters” actually refers to a football club.

Photos taken October 2025

Hochstadenring

Posted on December 12, 2025 by Mary C

… 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.

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 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.

below: Purple lines, like purple crayon drawings.

below: Mahala

below: A big toothy grin, popsicle by NanE

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.

below: An alien life form and lots of scribbles.

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

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

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

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.