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Street Art? A Bavarian Invention!
So you think street art was invented in the New York Bronx or East London? You’re way off. Bavaria’s first street artist, the fresco painter Franz Seraph Zwinck, was born in 1748.
Ever since, creative Bavarians such as fresco painter Bernhard Rieger and numerous graffiti artists have been decorating the villages and towns of their homeland. They take grey walls and have them tell colourful, exciting stories.
The European age of graffiti began in Bavaria in the mid-1980s with the “Geltendorf Train”. On the night of 24 March 1985, seven sprayers “decorated” an S4 train at the Geltendorf S-Bahn station over a length of more than 50 metres to create Europe’s first “Whole Train” ...
Street Art: Always Up the Wall!
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Al Fresco Instead of Spray Cans
The house where Franz Seraph Zwinck was born in Oberammergau was known in the town as “Zum Lüftl”. Here, the young painter gave the Alpine region its first folkloristic fresco. This supposedly gave rise to the German term Lüftlmalerei, or Lüftl painting – in English simply “fresco painting”. Supposedly. Later, he also created frescoes for sacred buildings such as St Martin’s Church in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, wealthy homeowners would commission opulent depictions of biblical scenes and Alpine landscapes as well as classic rustic subjects and mottoes. These fresco paintings are extremely durable because they are applied to the fresh lime plaster. They later silicify and accordingly become very weather-resistant.
Most of the fresco paintings can be admired in Oberammergau, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald and Bad-Tölz. But even the Lindau town hall is a fine example of this form of façade art.
Anything But Ordinary
Creative minds have been shaping Bavaria for centuries. There is a centuries-old tradition of showcasing our homeland artistically. In Bavaria, art is not concealed behind museum walls; it can be found on façades, in tunnels and under bridges in many cities. Sometimes tiny and filigree, sometimes 250 metres long or four storeys high. Sometimes melodious, sometimes made of cow dung.
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