Pont-Aven

Mural Artist in Pont-Aven

In Pont-Aven, Giulia Dal Bon paints murals with a brush, in houses, guest houses, workshops, restaurants and shops. Trained at the Brera Academy, she paints on site, from 150 € per square metre. Free quote within 48 hours, two sketches included: you approve the design before Giulia paints.

Contact Giulia

Tell me your idea, and I will be glad to reply.

Example of a hand-painted wall mural by Giulia Dal Bon, for a wall in Pont-Aven

The price of a mural in Pont-Aven

Simple motif or line drawingFine lines for flowers, patterns, silhouettes or figures…150 €/sqm
Fully painted subjectColours and shadows for landscapes, portraits or scenes…250 €/sqm
Trompe-l’oeil or ceilingThe wall opens onto a false window, a sky on the ceiling or an entire landscape…350 €/sqm
Exterior facade: if needed, scaffolding is added to the quote.

Free quote within 48h

The price is based on the surface and the technique; the quote then takes into account interior or exterior, the condition of the wall, the height, scaffolding if needed and the timing.

Where to start?

When you contact me about a mural in Pont-Aven, here is what happens next.

1

Tell me your idea

Even if the idea is still vague, we work on it together. Write to me on WhatsApp or by email, I reply within 48 hours.

2

A photo of the wall with the sketch

Send me a photo of the wall and I draw a sketch straight onto your photo. You tell me what you think. The first two sketches are free.

3

The quote

Once the sketch is approved, I send you the quote and we set the date together.

4

I paint the wall

I come and paint at your place in Pont-Aven, by brush, and the place stays open while I work.

Murals in Pont-Aven

Paul Gauguin arrived in Pont-Aven in 1886 and returned several times until 1894, staying at the Pension Gloanec, opened in 1880 by Marie-Jeanne Gloanec, who let painters pay on credit. With Émile Bernard he founded the Pont-Aven School there, and the painters carried their easels to the Bois d’Amour, along the river. Giulia paints in Pont-Aven for village houses, galleries and venues.

What Giulia brings to Pont-Aven. The Pont-Aven School chose flat colours and clear outlines, against the realism of its time. Giulia works with the same freedom in her palette, but on the wall and made to measure for the place. She paints an interest in what those painters built here, and defines each mural with the person who entrusts it to her. Giulia is a painter, trained at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. She exhibits her paintings in art galleries and also paints on walls. Corriere della Sera, Domus and Sky Arte have written about her work, and her mural of over twenty metres dedicated to Gaber and Jannacci can be seen in Milan. The wall is her favourite canvas because it truly becomes part of a place, a unique work made to tell your story.

Example of mural work in Pont-Aven: above a sideboard, the wall Giulia Dal Bon painted opens onto the sea.
Example of mural work in Pont-Aven: Giulia painted a trompe-l’oeil beach beyond the wall.
Example of mural work in Pont-Aven: Giulia Dal Bon paints Venice at sunset on the wall of a restaurant.
Example of mural work in Pont-Aven: Giulia paints Venice on a restaurant wall.

What Giulia brings to Pont-Aven

In 1889 Gauguin painted The Yellow Christ from a seventeenth-century polychrome wooden crucifix hanging in the chapel of Trémalo, just above the village: its plainness was enough for him, and he repainted it yellow inside an autumn landscape. The crucifix is still there, in the chapel, and the painting has been in Buffalo since 1946.

Pont-Aven is therefore a village where a painted village object became a famous painting, while staying where it was. Giulia Dal Bon paints there with a brush, in the houses of the centre, the crêperies, the hotels, the galleries and the shops, using odourless acrylic indoors and quartz paint on facades. From 150 € per sqm, free quote within 48 hours.

In Pont-Aven, Giulia also paints live in front of an audience: a festival, an opening, a concert or a wedding. The canvas starts blank and ends signed, ready to hang. From 950 € for a wedding, from 400 € for a performance. See live painting →

Your questions, before commissioning

A photo of the wall, its approximate dimensions and the idea you have in mind are enough to receive a quote.

How much does a mural cost in Pont-Aven?

The rate is per square metre: €150 for a line drawing or a simple motif, €250 for a fully painted subject, €350 for a trompe l’oeil or ceiling. The quote is free: see all prices.

How does it work to have a wall painted in Pont-Aven?

Write to Giulia Dal Bon on WhatsApp or by email, even if the idea is still vague: she replies within 48 hours. Send her a photo of the wall to be painted, she draws a sketch straight onto your photo, you tell her what you think, and the first two sketches are free. Once the sketch is approved, she sends you the quote, from 150 € per sqm in Pont-Aven, and sets the date with you. She then comes and paints the mural at your place in Pont-Aven, by brush, and the place stays open while she works.

What does a mural quote in Pont-Aven cover?

With Giulia Dal Bon, the price per square metre includes the paint and materials, the first two sketches and the protective varnish as a finish. While she paints, you tell her what you think, and she adjusts. Added to the quote, when needed, are the scaffolding for a facade and travel costs, agreed together. The quote is free and arrives within 48 hours; a deposit of about 100 € for materials confirms the date, and the balance is settled at the end.

I’d like a mural or a painting on a wall of my home in Pont-Aven, who should I contact?

Giulia Dal Bon, a painter trained at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. She paints murals by brush in homes, bedrooms, bathrooms, on terraces, pool walls and facades, and travels in Pont-Aven as she does across Europe. Send her a photo of the wall, its approximate dimensions and your idea, however loose: she replies within 48 hours with a quote and a first proposal. The first two sketches are free.

Can I see a design before commissioning the mural?

Always. You receive a sketch set on a photo of your own wall, to scale, together with the quote. The first two sketches are free: Giulia shows the work in progress, you give your opinion, and she adjusts. You confirm when you are ready.

Will a mural damage the wall?

The paint goes onto the plaster already in place. In most cases a dusting down is all that is needed before starting. If the surface has cracks or rising damp, Giulia points it out before quoting and proposes the preparation required. Indoors she uses an odourless acrylic: a child’s bedroom in use or a restaurant that stays open can both be painted. An acrylic mural can later be painted over like any wall paint, if you change your mind in ten years.

When is the best time to paint a mural in Pont-Aven?

All year round. Indoors the odourless acrylic lets the room stay in use while she works, in January as in July. Outdoors she needs a dry wall and a mild temperature. Giulia sets the date with you when she quotes, within 48 hours, and gives plenty of notice if the schedule moves.

Can a view of Pont-Aven be painted on a wall?

Yes. A painted view lives first of all on its lines. The mills on the Aven and the rocks in the river, the Bois d’Amour, and the chapel of Trémalo where Gauguin found his Yellow Christ in 1889. Giulia Dal Bon works with a brush, on the wall itself. A line-drawn view is 150 € per sqm, the same view fully painted from 250 €. Free quote within 48 hours.

What subject works well for a mural in Pont-Aven?

In Pont-Aven, village houses and galleries lend themselves to botanical motifs, figurative subjects in flat colour or a restrained trompe l’oeil. Everything is painted with a brush, in odourless acrylic.

What is the difference between a hand-painted mural and spray-painted graffiti?

They are two different crafts. A graffiti artist works with spray cans, with a fast gesture and a graphic finish. A brush-painted mural is built layer by layer, which allows gradients, fine detail and trompe l’oeil: it is a painting made directly on the wall. Indoors, Giulia uses odourless acrylic. And while she paints, people take the time to watch: a brush at work is a show in itself. The choice depends on the finish you are after.

What do you call an artist who paints on walls?

The craft is called mural painting, and the person who practises it is a muralist, a mural artist or a decorative painter. Giulia Dal Bon comes from the brush rather than the spray can: trained at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, she exhibits her paintings in art galleries and paints by hand, in Pont-Aven as elsewhere in Europe. For a mural in Pont-Aven, a photo of the wall is enough to begin, and the quote arrives within 48 hours.

Does a mural hold up outdoors in Pont-Aven?

Yes, with surface preparation and paints made for outdoor use. The Breton climate is damp: an exterior needs a thoroughly dry surface and quartz paint. Choosing the paint and the surface for an outdoor wall in Pont-Aven is explained in the guide Which paint, which wall, how long it lasts.

Do I need permission to paint a facade in Pont-Aven?

An interior wall can be painted freely. For a facade visible from the street, you generally need the owner’s or building association’s agreement, and a notice to the municipality if the building sits in a protected zone: many buildings in the historic centre are protected. Giulia explains the process before starting.

How long does it take to paint a mural?

It depends on the surface, the level of detail and how easy the wall is to reach. Giulia gives the timing with the quote, within 48 hours, and gives plenty of notice if the schedule moves. The place keeps running while she works: the acrylic is odourless.

How long does a mural last?

An acrylic mural by Giulia Dal Bon lasts a lifetime indoors: the paint becomes part of the plaster and lives as long as the wall. Outdoors, quartz paint is made for facades, and an anti-salt or anti-pollution varnish extends it further. And if one day you want a change, it can be painted over like any wall paint.

Other spaces

The other places Giulia paints, her portfolio and the towns nearby.

Other cities

Giulia also works in these other European cities.

The 20-metre-plus wall for Gaber and Jannacci, in Milan, in the press

Giulia Dal Bon, trained at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan.

Where Giulia works in Pont-Aven

In Pont-Aven, for a private client, in an apartment, Giulia paints on an interior wall : the living room, the bedroom and the kitchen. She also paints the bathroom, the entrance and the hallway. A ceiling asks for more work, and she paints it gladly. Outside, on the exterior facade, she works in quartz paint. A mobile panel is painted separately, and moves with you.

In a boutique in Pont-Aven, window and shutter are painted by hand, and change with the seasons. For a hotel, she paints the entrance hall and the rooms, one by one.

In Town centre and Bois d’Amour, you send her a photo of the wall and she draws the sketch straight onto it, then you shape the idea together.

The subject comes from you. Giulia draws a landscape, a floral or botanical motif, a painted sky on a ceiling, a perspective trompe-l’oeil. She paints figures and animals, letters signs and lettering by hand, and reproduces a work you love.

Possible subjects in Pont-Aven: the chapel of Trémalo, the mills on the Aven and the rocks in the river, the Bois d’Amour. And always the trompe-l’oeil window, the botanical motif and the painted sky on a ceiling.

People ask for different things and mean the same one: a mural, a wall mural, an artistic painting on a wall. Others say wall decoration, decorative painting, mural decoration. Others again a trompe-l’oeil, a hand-painted wall, a drawing on a wall, or a painting made directly on the wall. It is one craft, that of a mural artist, a muralist, a decorative painter, and Giulia does it with a brush in Pont-Aven.

Gauguin stayed at the Pension Gloanec in Pont-Aven, opened in 1880, and founded the Pont-Aven School with Émile Bernard.

Giulia also travels throughout Brittany.