Historic Málaga on Spain’s southern coast is best known as a beach destination and cruise port. But did you know it is also home to some of the finest street art in Spain?
Málaga Arte Urbano Soho, MAUS for short, has been instrumental in bringing street art to the city. The initiative helped turn the once scruffy neighbourhood between the Guadalmedina River and the port into an open-air gallery, drawing some of the world’s best known street and graffiti artists, including Boamistura, ROA, D*FACE, Doger, Dadi Dreucol and Dal East.
Here is my guide to the best Málaga street art, across both of the city’s mural neighbourhoods.
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How to Explore Street Art in Málaga
The highest concentration of murals is split between two neighbourhoods: Soho, right by the port, and Lagunillas, a short walk inland via Plaza de la Merced and Calle Victoria. As the street artworks are ever-changing, I can’t promise you’ll see all the art featured in this guide when you visit, but you will have huge fun making exciting new finds.
For more background on the artists and their work, join a walking tour with a guide. This one covers the Soho neighbourhood in depth.
A few practical notes from my own visit: go in daylight, since Lagunillas in particular is not somewhere I would wander after dark. Morning light works best for photographing the Soho murals, most of which face the river or open streets.
Neither neighbourhood takes more than half a day to explore properly, so this pairs easily with a morning at Málaga Cathedral or an afternoon by the port.
Street Art in Soho Málaga
Soho, also known as Barrio de las Artes, occupies a triangle of land bounded by Alameda Principal to the south and the port to the east. The neighbourhood’s dried out riverbed, the Guadalmedina, forms one long continuous canvas of tags and graffiti and is worth a walk in its own right before you start hunting down the named murals.
TV Boy, Calle Vendeja
If I had to pick a favourite piece of Málaga street art, this would be it. Italian artist TV Boy painted four of the city’s favourite sons here: Pablo Picasso, Antonio Banderas, Chiquito de la Calzada and Dani Rovira.
D*FACE, Calle Comandante Benítez 14
Londoner Dean Stockton (D*FACE), is a self-taught illustrator and painter whose pop-art style owes a clear debt to Roy Lichtenstein. Keep an eye out for a smaller D*FACE piece, Undead, on Calle Casas de Campos.
Obey, Calle Comandante Benítez 14
Paz y Libertad is the work of American artist Shepard Fairey, known as Obey, perhaps the most influential street artist of his generation and the creator of the Hope image used in Barack Obama’s original campaign poster. The 40 foot mural took his team three full days to complete.
Obey, Calle Thomas Heredia
Mujer Fatal, a portrait of Fairey’s wife and a symbol of peace, was completed within a single day using a template his team had prepared in advance.
DALeast, Alameda Principal 25
Born in China in 1984, DALeast is famous for his unusual paintings of animals. This magnificent mural of an eagle is an excellent example, its shape formed by what looks like hundreds of metal shards. His use of fractured imagery lends the image a 3-D quality and breathes life and a sense of urgency into his art.
Dadi Dreucol , Calle San Lorenzo
Málalga native Dadi Dreucol studied at the city’s School of Fine Arts before moving to Valencia to complete his studies. His recurring bearded nude figure is a symbol of freedom from society’s rules.
ROA, Calle Casas de Campos
This large monochrome mural by Belgian street artist ROA depicts rats tumbling down the façade of a multistorey building. Using a minimal colour palette, he creates animals and birds that are native to the area being painted.
If you know his work from London, he painted a large bird on an Indian restaurant in Brick Lane, and there are more of his murals in his hometown of Ghent. Further down the same street is a smaller, highly detailed chameleon by the same artist, easy to miss if you are not looking down.
Boamistura, Calle San Lorenzo and Colegio García Lorca
Boamistura is an art collective based in Madrid, and have received worldwide recognition for bold artwork. Although their works of art are rooted in graffiti, they also incorporate mural painting, illustration and graphic design.
Okuda and Remed, Martínez Campos Street (Hotel Sojo Bahía Málaga)
La Danse de Venus et du Marin covers the hotel’s façade in interlocking colour and geometric shape, showing Venus intertwined with a sailor. It is one of the most photographed pieces in Soho.
Street Art Around Calle Lagunillas
Lagunillas is the second mural hotspot, reached via Plaza de la Merced and up Calle Victoria.
The tone here is different from Soho. Many of the murals carry social messages, painted to reflect the harsh realities faced by residents of this run-down neighbourhood with high unemployment.
Unlike the sanctioned work in Soho, artists here fund their own materials and the work is unofficial. In several cases the artist is unknown.
Doger, Plaza de la Esperanza
Dedicated to Miguel Ángel Chamorro, this piece is by Jonathan Morillas, known as Doger, a Zaragoza born artist who began spray-painting graffiti in 1995. Several of his works appear around Calle Lagunillas, including graceful female portraits.
Doger, Plaza de la Judería
This close-up portrait, a woman in red lipstick and earrings, is one of his strongest pieces and has an almost 3D quality up close.
Beyond the named pieces, the wider Lagunillas area is worth a slow wander. Unattributed murals cover entire building façades here, from reclining figures to social commentary pieces, and part of the appeal is not knowing who painted what.
And that’s a wrap!
I hope you have as much fun exploring Málaga’s street art as I did. For more on planning your time in the city, take a look at my guides to spending a day in Málaga, or a weekend there, and the best places to stay in Málaga.
Happy travels!
About Bridget
Bridget Coleman has been a passionate traveller for more than 30 years. She has visited 70+ countries, most as a solo traveller.
Articles on this site reflect her first-hand experiences.
To get in touch, email her at hello@theflashpacker.net or follow her on social media.