Seth unveils a new XXL street-art mural in Paris's 13th arrondissement

In the 13th arrondissement, facades clearly have long memories. It is on Rue Émile-Deslandres, at the corner with Rue Croulebarbe, that Seth, real name Julien Malland, returns in 2026 to tackle a large wall on a social housing building. Hoisted on his lift, the artist brings to life a new monumental street-art fresco in a neighborhood that since the early 2010s has become one of the capital's most distinctive open-air museums.

This return is no small thing. Seth’s previous artwork had already adorned the same wall before it was covered during a thermal insulation project on the building. The 13th arrondissement town hall had publicly pledged to bring back the same artist once the work was completed. Promise kept.

Who is Seth, the standout street artist of Paris's 13th arrondissement?

A 53-year-old Parisian born in 1972, Seth has been touring the world’s walls with his colorful characters for more than twenty years. His figures with often-absent faces, bearing dreams and symbols, form a body of work that is both poetic and committed. In the 13th arrondissement, his creations already dot the boulevard Vincent-Auriol, a true backbone of Parisian street art with about fifty façades painted, but also the Butte-aux-Cailles and the Louise-Bourgeois school. He recently set up his studio in the district, becoming, as the town hall notes, a bona fide artist of the 13th arrondissement.

His portraits of faceless children, captured around the globe, are well known to street art lovers. The artist, who is also a writer, illustrator, and publisher, has exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo, at the Magda Danysz Gallery, and at the Itinerrance gallery, which since its inception has been the main driving force behind the Boulevard Paris 13 project.

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Seth, an artist whose activism extends far beyond the walls of the 13th arrondissement

Seth's work extends far beyond the neighborhood. In February 2022, three days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, the artist spontaneously took to the street to paint “Ukraine in Motion” on Buot Street in the same 13th arrondissement: a girl with a blue-and-yellow flag trampling tanks. The image became a symbol, reproduced on the walls of an air-raid shelter and turned into an Ukrainian postage stamp. In 2019, it was him who signed a giant mural on a 20th-arrondissement gable in tribute to street artist Zoo Project, who died at 23.

This week, it was Michel-Édouard Leclerc, head of the eponymous chain, who praised his meeting with Seth at work, calling him one of the most prolific and brightest French urban artists. A compliment that neatly captures the singular role this artist occupies in the landscape of contemporary urban art.

This new mural speaks to everyone who loves street art in Paris—whether you’re a local resident or a curious urban art appreciator. To extend the stroll, you can easily reach Boulevard Vincent-Auriol on foot and continue the discovery along the facades of the Boulevard Paris 13 project. The metro, line 7 at Les Gobelins, or line 6 from Place d’Italie, makes the area easily reachable.

Seth is one of the few artists whose public works manage to move both locals and passers-by. This new mural enriches a district that, brick by brick, has forged a distinctive artistic identity in Paris. A great chance to (re)discover the Croule-Barbe neighborhood and its surroundings.

Also to discover:

• Street art: where to see Seth's works in Paris and Île-de-France?
• A stroll along Boulevard Paris 13, an open-air art gallery
• Seth: here’s the new mural by the street artist in Belleville