Colourful makeover for 19th century French château

Spanish artist Okuda San Miguel covered the Château La Valette, which was built in 1864, with a colourful painted design at the invitation of the Urban Art Paris association, as part of the LaBel Valette street art festival in Pressigny-les-Pins in the Centre Val de Loire region.

The design was said to be inspired by the artist’s most recent work, ‘Skull in the Mirror’, featuring two skull-like shapes on either side of the château.

The enormous artwork was done with the help of several cranes and lifts.

It comes soon after the artist created a 50-metre-high new take on the Mona Lisa on a 19-storey building in Paris, and also decorated a diving board on the Alexandre III bridge in a show of support for the capital’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games.

Before being bought by the commune of Pressigny-les-Pins in 2002, the château had lain abandoned for 30 years by the Spanish embassy, who had previously used it as a school and a Spanish cultural centre.

The commune had originally planned to renovate the property with flats for seniors, and install leisure facilities in the 38-hectare grounds, but eventually decided to create a residential leisure park and open the castle up for cultural events and exhibitions.