Penelles, the Catalan village that became Europe's street art capital
Wondering which place on earth that, possibly, concentrates more art per capita?
Forget about Paris, Florence or Venice…
Penelles, a tiny village (pop. 400) in the agrarian flatlands of Western Catalonia, emerges as a likely candidate.
That is, of course, provided you consider street mural painting an art genre, and I am pretty sure after visiting Penelles, you will have no doubts about the answer to this question...
Cinema Paradiso makes an appearance in Penelles (Catalonia)
For the last 4 years this eminently rural settlement is the setting of an international mural painting festival that is seeing more and more of its houses and buildings converted into works of art.
Plenty of storks around too!
The Gargar Festival (named after the “gar-gar” sound made by a species of pin-tailed sandgrouse, a bird that abounds in the area) started as an initiative of some local artistic entrepreneurs and has since gathered institutional support and recognition, just becoming bigger and bigger every year. It usually takes place in May.
Also the topics have become more diverse. At the start it was mainly topics connected to rural life, but nowadays you can find all sort of themes and styles.
Similarly, several local inhabitants have seen their portraits in large format paintings.
To this date, over a 100, mostly large scale, mural paintings adorn local houses.
The mural paintings of Penelles - A collection
We visited recently and spend a good deal of time walking the streets and documenting the most interesting pictures. What follows is a compilation of some of the most spectacular mural painting you can find on the streets of Penelles. Enjoy!
At the time of writing these lines it is not clear whether the 5th edition of the Gargar Festival will take place, in view of the restrictive measures put in place to stop the coronavirus epidemic.
In any case, whether this year or the next, it is only to be expected that the Penelles open air museum will just get bigger and more interesting!
How to get to Penelles
Penelles is some 150km West of Barcelona
The village is located just a couple of kilometres off the C-53 road, that links Tarrèga and Balaguer, in the province of Lleida.
From Barcelona the best way is to drive through the A-2 free motorway and exit at Anglesola, just past Tarrèga.
It takes about 1h 45min to drive all the way from Barcelona.
There are also bus services from either Lleida (L-110, one daily on weekdays) and Tarrèga (L-205, 3-4 daily depending on the day). You can check the timetables here.
