Street art and graffiti are a worldwide phenomenon.
No art form has a wider public.
'Illegal' narrates the prehistory of street art and graffiti in the USA and Europe for the first time. The exhibits are key works and rarities that have never been shown before. All of them were created illegally and aimed directly at a street audience.

"People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish. But that's only if it's done properly." – Banksy

This selection of 120 artists from more than a dozen countries is the result of hard work and lengthy research. The exhibition explains why their works pointed the way ahead for street art and graffiti before the Banksy era – i.e. the era of the person who was to become the best known artist and activist on the scene. They were never intended for a museum, and that is why they have not – with only a few exceptions – been preserved in the original. Often enough, their photographic documentation was carried out illegally and under unfavorable conditions too.

The emphasis in this unique exhibition, designed by the Historisches Museum Saar together with the curator Ulrich Blanché, is on relations with pop music and avant-garde art.

Welcome!