Photos: where to spot France's motorway art installations

Did you know that the world's largest chicken and world's the largest boar can be seen from French motorways, as well as a range of other unexpected artworks?

From Narbonne to Le Havre, thousands of drivers pass by these surprise sculptures every day. 

Each installation can be traced back to the 1% artistique, a law dating from 1951 which aims to support artistic creation and encourage the populace to appreciate modern French art.

The law says that whenever a new public building goes up - such as a school, police station, court or library – 1% of the cost of construction should be spent on one or more works of art to be integrated in the building or located near to it.

The 1% is calculated on the total, pre-tax cost of the work minus architect’s fee, roadworks and furnishings. If the money is less than €30,000, it may be limited to buying a ready-made piece. If it is more than this, an artistic committee is set up to put the work out for tender and commission the art, with advice from the conseiller en arts plastiques (art adviser) from the regional directorate of cultural affairs (Drac). 

In theory, any branch of art can be featured, whether sculpture, painting, light or sound installations. The artist does not have to be French but should be set up for tax and social charges in France.

The 1% artistique concerns all central state constructions and in some cases local authority ones. It also comes into play for major renovations of a site, if a change of use is involved.

It is estimated that more than 12,400 projects by 4,000 artists have been involved in total since the law was passed. An online interactive map lists participating sites.

Read also: ‘French Banksy’ James Colomina strikes again with new sculpture in Toulouse

The scheme was associated first with schools and was championed by sculptor René Iché. Les Journées du 1% artistique is held in some years in schools and higher education – the next one will be September 19, 2025 – promoted by the education, culture and agriculture ministries, to celebrate the 1% art associated with educational buildings around France.

It was extended to buildings associated with other ministries during the 1970s and finally autoroutes in the 1980s, although because of their very high cost it is technically 0.1% in their case. 

As a result, so-called art autoroutier has flourished, a cousin of the art giratoire that can be seen on many French roundabouts and which is funded by local authorities. As it is very visible, it reaches people who would not go to art galleries.

The artist benefits from a “right to have their art respected”, and it cannot be moved or changed without their permission. Regional committees and the private motorway management companies are involved in commissioning the art for motorways.

Vinci Autoroutes has even created a video series about some of the different artworks found along their roads. 

Have you spotted any of these art autoroutier installations?

“Motorway art” ranges from a classical column broken into pieces along the A89 between Saint-Etienne and Clermont-Ferrand (called La Colonne Brisée, 1984), to a horse sculpture l’Archeval (1997) on the A85 at Vivy, Maine-et-Loire. 

Woinic (2008), a 50-tonne piece at a service station on the A34 at Saulces-Monclin in Ardennes said to be the “world’s biggest boar”. 

Woinic cost the Ardennes council no less than €650,000 and it has trademarked its image to use in promotional material. 

Read also: PHOTO: 32 French towns replace advertising posters with... works of art

Ardennes’ 'logo' features a boar, so the installation has an obvious local significance, as does the Poulet de Bresse (1999) - the largest chicken in the world - on the A39 at Dommartin-lès-Cuiseaux in Saône-et-Loire (see cover image). 

Others leave you scratching your head. The 25m-tall Signe Infini (1994) to the north of Lyon, where the A46 and A6 autoroutes intersect, is a version of the infinity symbol made out of steel, while the Vrilles Lumi­neuses (1995) at Rogerville in Seine-Maritime, is two big screw-shaped lit-up masts. They are located at the entrance to Le Havre at the intersection of the A29 and A131 motorways, just off the pont de Normandie.

Some art inspired by local culture is still not obvious at first glance: Sur la trace des Vikings (On the trail of the Vikings) on the A13 Autoroute de Normandie at Tourville-la-Rivière, looks like a ball with arrows attached.

Les Chevaliers Cathares (1980) on the A61 near Narbonne in the Aude has been described as resembling bunkers or burqas and is probably the only motorway art immortalised in chanson – Francis Cabrel wrote an unflattering song about them.