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.
Porto
Mural Artist in Porto
In Porto, Giulia Dal Bon paints murals with a brush, in flats, hotels, restaurants, offices 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.
The price of a mural in Porto
| 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 Porto, here is what happens next.
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.
The quote
Once the sketch is approved, I send you the quote and we set the date together.
I paint the wall
I come and paint at your place in Porto, by brush, and the place stays open while I work.
Murals in Porto
Between 1905 and 1916 the painter Jorge Colaço covered the hall of São Bento station with twenty thousand hand-painted azulejos: battles, processions, country scenes, in blue and white, on the walls of a building travellers cross every day. Ribeira, facing the Douro, is one of Porto’s oldest districts, with its characteristic blue-and-white tiles and its galleries. Foz do Douro, where the river meets the ocean, is the city’s coastal area; Boavista combines apartments and business life, and Cedofeita is the most artistic district. In Porto, Giulia paints for apartments, hotels and boutiques.
What Giulia brings to Porto. 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 covered her work, and her mural of more than twenty metres dedicated to Gaber and Jannacci stands in Milan. The wall is her favourite canvas because it truly becomes part of a place, a unique work made to tell your story.
What Giulia brings to Porto
The Livraria Lello opened on 13 January 1906, with the neo-Gothic facade, the crimson staircase and the stained glass that made it famous. A century later the city added two buildings that changed its profile: the Serralves Museum, opened on 6 June 1999 to give Porto a space devoted to contemporary art, and Rem Koolhaas’s Casa da Música, inaugurated on 15 April 2005.
Porto is therefore a city with azulejos on its facades and Koolhaas’s concrete a few streets away, moving easily from one to the other. Giulia Dal Bon paints there with a brush, in the flats of the Ribeira and Cedofeita, in cafés, hotels and offices, using odourless acrylic colours indoors and quartz paint outdoors, made for the Atlantic damp. From 150 € per sqm, free quote within 48 hours.
In Porto, Giulia also paints live in front of an audience: a wedding, a concert, a festival or a company evening. The canvas starts blank and ends signed, ready to hang. From 950 € for a wedding, from 900 € for a company evening, from 400 € for a performance at a concert. 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 Porto?
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 Porto?
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 Porto, and sets the date with you. She then comes and paints the mural at your place in Porto, by brush, and the place stays open while she works.
What does a mural quote in Porto 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 Porto, 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 Porto 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 Porto?
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 Porto be painted on a wall?
Yes. A painted view lives first of all on its lines. The twenty thousand hand-painted azulejos by Jorge Colaço in São Bento station between 1905 and 1916, the stacked houses of the Ribeira and the Dom Luís bridge over the Douro. Giulia Dal Bon composes the view for the wall in front of her. As a line drawing, 150 € per sqm; painted in colour, 250 € per sqm. Free quote within 48 hours.
What subject works well for a mural in Porto?
In Porto, apartments in the historic districts lend themselves to botanical motifs, figurative subjects or a restrained trompe l’oeil that works with the decoration already in place. 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 Porto as elsewhere in Europe. For a mural in Porto, a photo of the wall is enough to begin, and the quote arrives within 48 hours.
Does a mural hold up outdoors in Porto?
Yes, with surface preparation and paints made for outdoor use. Atlantic humidity calls for a well-prepared surface and quartz paint. Before having an outdoor wall painted in Porto, the mural paint and durability guide answers questions on paint, surface and lifespan.
Do I need permission to paint a facade in Porto?
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 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. In Porto, on a façade exposed to traffic, Giulia can also propose an anti-pollution paint, which turns part of the nitrogen oxides under daylight. The option is priced in the quote.
Other spaces
The other places Giulia paints, her portfolio and the towns nearby.
Homes and villas
A bedroom, a hallway, a staircase: the walls you look at every day.
A mural for your home
Restaurants, hotels and boutiques
A painted wall gives the room its character, and the place stays open while she works.
A mural for your restaurant
Other cities
Giulia also works in these other European cities.
All the cities
Giulia also travels to Vila Nova de Gaia, Matosinhos, Maia, Gondomar, Valongo, Espinho, Póvoa de Varzim, Vila do Conde, Santo Tirso and Trofa.
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 Porto
In Porto, in an apartment, Giulia paints on an interior wall : the living room, the bedroom and the kitchen. She paints the bathroom, the entrance and the hallway just as readily. A ceiling asks for more work, and she paints it gladly. Outside, on the exterior facade, she works in quartz paint. She also paints on a mobile panel, when the wall belongs to someone else.
For a boutique in Porto, she paints the window, the shutter and the back wall. For a hotel, she paints the entrance hall and the rooms, one by one.
In Ribeira, Foz do Douro, Boavista and Cedofeita, 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 Porto: the hand-painted azulejos of São Bento station, the houses of the Ribeira facing the Douro, the roofs and the river below. 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 Porto.
Ribeira, facing the Douro, is one of Porto’s oldest districts, while Foz do Douro marks where the river meets the ocean.
Giulia also travels throughout Portugal.
Where the mural can find its place
- In a period apartment, she paints the living room, the bedroom, the entrance and the ceiling. From €150 per m², free quote within 48h.
- In a hotel or a boutique, she paints the reception wall, the storefront and the lounge. Free quote within 48h.
- Giulia also travels throughout Portugal.