COVER N. 695 - FRANCE

Postmark: Fête du Timbre Street Art et peintres de rue 69 Oullins-Pierre-Bénite 06.03.2026

Posted on the 6th March;  Received on the 12th March 2026

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Street Art... the street as inspiration, model, atelier, canvas, gallery, arts forum, for the joy of the city and its dwellers and visitors.

Graffiti, murals, tags, video projections...

What started as a sidelined movement form the peripheries has now become fully integrated into the mainstream circuit, with some authors becoming well acknowledged and respected names in the selective world of visual arts.

What better example of this than my own President, who left office just a couple of days ago having chosen a street artist to do his official portrait for the Gallery of the Presidents of the Portuguese Republic... (and what a great portrait it is... and what a nice gesture Vilhs, the artist, had, refusing to be paid and asking that the money be directed to the acquisition of works by other Portuguese emerging artists....)

Cities have fully realised the potential of street art as promotional vehicle and  street art festivals take place in cities all over the planet. 

And so did stamps: street art has become collectible in philatelic terms, with some postal administrations issuing sets thus themed in the recent past. But the best is yet to come, for I suppose that next year, 2027, the theme will get a fair share of new followers, given that it will be the conceptual basis for the EUROPA issues.

Meanwhile, La Poste, it seems,  chose to be one step ahead and elected street art and street painters  as the theme for this year's Fête du Timbre.

Occurring yearly since 1937, La Fête du Timbre simply aims at promoting Philately in its many guises, making it known to the public at large.

The event is organised by the Fédération Française des Associations Philatéliques, in association with Phil@poste (the La Poste body responsible for stamp printing and issuing) and ADPhile (an association whose objective is to foster knowledge dissemination through stamps and philately).

For the occasion, following up on the Arts de Rue general fête du Timbre theme inaugurated last year with two stamps dedicated to street circus, La Poste issued, on 06MAR2026 the single 3,10 € souvenir sheet and 1,52 € stamp on the cover, the former honouring Street art, and the latter paying homage to street painters.

And, once again, Eric suprised me with a beautiful FDC featuring both issues. Un grand Merci, mon ami.

I was rather pleased to learn that the work chosen to illustrate the souvenir sheet was that of an artist with a strong connection with my own country, since he is of Portuguese descent.

In fact Alexandre Monteiro, or Hopare, as he is known, is,  the son of Portuguese parents and at 36 years old he is already one of the most recognised names of street art in France.

I have to confess I was not familiar with his production, but upon researching his name on the internet, I realised he has at least two works on display in Lisbon: a sculpture and a mural.

From what I could see on the internet, the portrait of a lady on the stamp is quite illustrative of his style and work. 

Also I happened to go to Lisbon today and his sculpture entitled  “Pareidolie”  was very close to where I was going so I made a small detour:

 

The stamp honouring the street painters and urban sketchers bears a nice polychromatic in-taglio printed view of  a pedestrian zone of a city in France, occupied with several painters, going about their business...

The author of this stamp is André Lavergne who was also responsible for the creation of the First Day Postmark, featuring a grafitted "Street Art", a paint spray can and a brush.