Communes across France replace advertising with artwork
Project aims to ‘bring a ray of light into people’s lives’ with over 1,000 spaces being converted
In total, more than 1,000 advertising spaces have been replaced with prints, ranging from modern paintings to classics
La Beauté Sauvera Le Monde
Communes across France are temporarily replacing advertisements in public spaces with works of arts, as part of a ‘beautifying project’.
There are 32 communes taking part in the project entitled ‘Beauty will save the world’ including towns in the Parisian suburbs, Brittany, central France and cities in the south-east (including Aix-en-Provence and Saint-Raphaël).
These areas have replaced advertising on billboards, buses and bus stops, shopping centres, and anywhere else in the public sphere with prints of famous paintings between November 16 and December 8.
This year has seen the addition of advertising space in train stations in some of the communes, as well as some construction sites.
A full map of participating communes can be found here.
One commune (Talmont-Saint-Hilaire in the Vendée) will take part in March 2025, as the Vendée Globe sailing race is currently taking place.
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What is the aim of the project?
The aim of the project is to “embellish and humanise public spaces,” said Quentin Brière, mayor of Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne) in a press conference about the project.
Saint-Dizier was the first town to replace advertisements with artwork in 2021.
“Not only in the town centre, but also in the shopping areas and town entrances that some people call ‘la France moche’,” he added.
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“The public space is the last place that those who no longer have anything in common have in common,” the mayor added.
“We've taken what's ugly, what's advertising, and put what's beautiful, what's art, on display. We want to create a ray of light in people's lives, so that they have no choice but [to look at the artwork] with beauty in their eyes.”
In total, more than 1,000 advertising spaces have been replaced with prints, ranging from modern paintings to classics such as Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.
In some communes, artwork was chosen by the authorities, in others it was decided communally, including in Naveil (Indre-et-Loire) where schoolchildren picked the paintings to be used.
A partnership with the Grand Palais-Réunion des musées nationaux has provided the copyright to use the paintings at a reduced price of €56 per piece of art used.
“What we learn is much richer than the basic cost,” said Nicolas Leudière, Mayor of Sablé-sur-Sarthe.
The project has gained the support of the Ministry of Culture, as well as the Villes de France association, with the hope that more communes will participate next winter, and the artwork will remain in place for longer.
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