City walk Breda: Blind Walls Gallery

The Blind Walls Gallery team provides a museum in the streets of Breda. Accessible to everyone. The artworks are always inspired by Breda's stories from the past, present and future. The designs and locations for the paintings are determined in cooperation with the city archive and by talking to locals who have lived in Breda for many years. Then the honour is given to both national and international artists to turn each wall into a new gem.

Blind Walls Gallery's artworks are a combination of street art and cultural heritage. Fun fact: in 2017, Blind Walls Gallery received the Brabant Heritage Award for this. So the special work they do is well noticed. But that can hardly be otherwise with a collection of now over 85 murals. And the inspiration is far from running out.

I start my route at the Schoenmakers Gate. Many times I have walked past this, asking myself what the paintings in the alley mean. Thanks to Blind Walls Gallery's QR code that often hangs next to a mural, I get an immediate answer to my question.

In his student days, the artist, Sam van der Weijden, lived in the former anti-squat building on which the mural now adorns. This property used to turn out to be a city farm called "The White Lamb". In the painting, Sam combined the map of Breda at the time, the goddess of agriculture and, of course, the white lamb itself.

On to the centre of Breda. On the side of the Molsparking, a special and colourful painting flaunts itself on the wall of one of the houses. The occupant of the house - Annie van Gils - has lived at this spot all her life. Just such a special Breda resident that Blind Walls Gallery would love to talk to about a new mural.

When asked what should be on the wall, she said without hesitation that the Assumption of the Virgin Church should return. This church was closed in the 1960s - after years of dominating the streetscape of this place. Despite vehement protests from local residents. Thanks to the mural, Mary Ascension Church has been brought back to the streetscape in this part of town. Great, right?

Now that we are at the Molsparking, we walk all over this arty car park. You might not expect the words 'arty' and 'car park' in the same sentence, but in Breda it is possible. Indeed, the Molsparking is completely decorated with works of art by Blind Walls Gallery. For me, the Rob & Robin mural stands out because of the special story of Annie van Gils, the woman who has lived next to the Molsparking all her life.

Growing up in an area full of companies, playing outside was not an option. Her backyard of just a few tiles in size was the only place to play back then. Artists Rob and Robin knew how to capture this feeling of lack of space and the coming and going of vehicles through the eyes of a child well in this mural.

The Doelsteeg is a work of art in itself. Here you will find one mural after another. The colourful mural Joris & de Draak tells an interesting piece of Breda's history.

On the painting, all kinds of figures are busy assembling a dragon. The dragon symbolises the St George's Guild, a guild of marksmen from Brabant. The workmen working on the dragon are a reference to the vocational school that was located here from 1886. This unfortunately burned down in 1979, but the mural keeps this story alive.

For the next work of art, we have to make a small diversions to the Zandberg district. Not a painting this time, but a work of 3D panels. After some zigzagging through the surrounding characteristic streets, I spot Breda artist Mariette van der Meer's artwork on the side of a house.

Here you find yourself on the spot where the first London Caramel Works factory, also known as Lonka, stood from 1920 to 1965. In honour of the confectionery manufacturer's centenary in 2020, Mariette van der Meer designed the artwork showing the Lonka Girl, the main character in all of Lonka's campaigns at the time.

As far as I'm concerned, don't miss the following painting. It's a short walk outside the city centre, but worth it. It is an impressive sight, the huge painting on the side of the flat in the Tuinzigt district. At the bottom of the flat, a mysterious girl with donkey ears stares at me. Time to check Blind Walls Gallery's website again.

The painting was inspired by the story of De Vlucht (The Flight), which took place when the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940. The mayor of Breda at the time, advises all residents to evacuate. A group moves to the Belgian village of Sint Niklaas and takes shelter in a girls' school here. Among them was Breda resident Willem de Kok with his family and their donkey.

Small problem: he has no way of getting the donkey into the school. Something tells him to listen to the animal's signal and he decides to move on. That same night, the school is bombed. The girl on the mural symbolises this story. I am deeply impressed.

Back to the city centre. A great place to end the route - especially after dark - is Street Art Frankey's Sunshine. A little sun made of plexiglass and metal that never sets.

The artwork was created in honour of the project around the river Mark, which now flows through the centre of Breda again. The New Mark consists of so-called Green Quays that promote biodiversity in the city centre. This got Street Art Frankey thinking. Because what does it take to promote greenery? Right, the sun! And preferably one that never sets, of course. The artwork in The New Mark was born.