The History of Mural Painting and Its Cultural Significance

Murals are the most ancient form of art that has accompanied humans throughout their entire existence. From cave paintings to cathedrals, wall decorations evolved from simple scribbles to large-scale compositions filled with complex symbols. Today, murals are part of the global art scene, urban environment, and underground culture. Read on to learn more about mural paintings and their history.

Mural painting is a category of art that relates to any kind of image permanently painted on a building wall, ceiling, or any permanent structure. Generally, art historians divide murals into four categories: fresco, graffiti, mosaic, and marouflage. A fresco is a painting technique of applying paint over a wet, freshly plastered wall. Plaster absorbs the paint and organically dries with it. Marouflage paintings are first painted on some kind of base material like canvas and then permanently fixed on a wall with an adhesive. A Mosaic is an image gathered from small pieces of stone, glass, or similar materials, with each piece replacing a brushstroke. Graffiti is a wall painting that can be applied with countless techniques. Its main characteristic is usually unplanned and unauthorized placement in public areas. Graffiti is the most controversial form of mural art, as many believe it should not be considered a form of art.

The Long History of Murals

Mural painting, as a vast concept, is probably the earliest form of human artistic expression. The most ancient murals were cave paintings that included hand prints, lines, and images of animals and humans. The oldest figurative cave paintings known to mankind date back 40,000 years. Caves or building walls proved to be the most durable remnants of human activity, and they preserved ancient murals for centuries and millennia. The earliest murals were painted with clay and soil, sometimes in the technique of stenciling. The famous handprints found in Argentina were allegedly created by placing one’s hand on a wall and spitting pigment over it through a tube.

In Ancient Greece and Rome, both painted murals and mosaics became incredibly popular ways to decorate shrines, houses, or even public spaces. They served not only as decorations but as indications of the space’s purpose, advertisements, or tricks to visually enlarge the space. With the rapid development of Christianity, church authorities adopted murals as a form of communication with their followers and the education of the illiterate majority. Religious art was supposed to teach the believers the Scripture, help them memorize scenes and characters from it, and create an emotional bond by evoking feelings of compassion and devotion.

From the Middle Ages, the predominant technique of mural painting was fresco. Known from Antiquity, frescoes proved to be durable and relatively easy to maintain, although they required the artist to work fast. Mosaics was a popular, although significantly more expensive, form of art that required more specific skills and efforts. In the modern era, the focus shifted from public and large-scale artworks to portable works that could be transported and owned by private collectors and institutions. Paintings and sculptures were inherently more exclusive than murals and dominated the art scene for decades. The large-scale return of murals as a form of public art occurred only in the 20th century with the development of urban planning and left-wing ideologies.

In the 1920s, the Mexican government, newly formed after the recent revolution, decided to employ artists as the moving force that would unite the nation and forge its shared cultural identity. The painful experience of colonization had damaged both the Indigenous culture of Mexico and the self-perception of its citizens. Most educational and propaganda techniques stumbled upon the fact that the country’s population was mostly illiterate and, thus, could not read and write. In such a climate, the government came up with the idea of promoting public art in the form of murals. These images were supposed to bring together diverse cultural codes and experiences in a form that could be understood and appreciated by anyone.

The most prominent Mexican Muralists were Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, Aurora Reyez Florez, Rufino Tamayo, and Jose Orozco. Each artist had a unique style and influence, yet all relied primarily on Mexico’s pre-colonial culture and folk art. This blend of political message and folk culture was soon adopted by Mexican American and Indigenous-American artists.

Murals & Politics: The Power of Visual Propaganda

The accessibility and clear messaging of mural art made it the perfect tool for political expression and propaganda. Murals, both painted and mosaic, were an outstandingly popular form of public art in most regions of the Soviet Union. Many of such murals reflected the ideas taken from communist ideology, but most importantly, they were centered around the glorification of labor, local cultures, and important milestones in Soviet history, such as achievements in space exploration. Building decoration was an important part of constructing the image of Soviet cities. According to historians, in the final decades of the Soviet Union, at least 5% of the construction budget was dedicated to mural design and execution.

Many Soviet murals can still be found in Moldova, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and other former Soviet countries. Their preservation is an important task for local authorities, who aim to protect and care for the remnants of their cultural legacy. However, in Ukraine, the situation is much more complex. Almost three years have passed since the ongoing Russian invasion began, and many citizens reject any association with the Soviet past. In July 2023, Ukraine adopted a new law aimed at destroying the remnants of the Soviet ideology, including propagandistic murals. However, some activists insist these murals are part of modern Ukrainian culture and aim to protect at least these works that have clear artistic value.

Another place that is famous for its political murals is Northern Ireland. These artworks first started to appear during the 1970s and reflected the social and political tension in the region. Some murals are dedicated to Irish political prisoners and the history of the Irish fight for independence, while others declare their authors’ loyalty to Great Britain. The political message of each mural usually corresponds to the values of a particular community that allowed its placement in their area. This way, they are not only the tools for spreading ideas and commemorating the victims but also geographical and social markers, dividing cities between opposing forces.

Graffiti is the most debatable and problematic type of mural art. Ranging from offensive commentaries scribbled on a wall to large-scale multi-colored artworks, it exists somewhere in between vandalism and pure artistic expression unmitigated by the involvement of art institutions. Even offensive commentaries can someday become valuable for archeologists. The ruins of Pompeii, the ancient Roman city destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, preserved many crude writings of locals boasting their sexual behavior (or judging others for it) or complaining about poor service in nearby taverns. Graffiti entered the major art scene with the efforts of artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, who started their creative practices from street art. By allowing these artists into the market, the art world both legitimized graffiti as a form of art and capitalized on something conceptually far removed from the traditional environments of galleries and museums.

Contemporary Mural Paintings

Today, mural painting remains an important form of public art that can be found in most major cities around the world. In most cases, such murals are decorative or educational, reflecting on the lives of local communities and contributing to their well-being. Some areas of the world, however, enjoy special cult status when it comes to murals. The remains of the Berlin Wall, which used to separate East and West Berlin, are now one of the most famous mural sites in the world. Some images on it are protected by the law, while others remain free zones for any artist who wishes to leave their mark.

The most famous contemporary muralists are the anonymous street artist Banksy, activist Shepard Fairey, and JR, a French artist who blends street art with photography. Their murals are usually political and reflect upon the issues of discrimination, inequality, exploitation, and cultural diversity.