Hunting Aliens in Paris: Discovering the Street Art of Mr Djoul

 Hunting Aliens in Paris: Discovering the Street Art of Mr Djoul

Once you start looking for mosaic street art in Paris, something happens: you can’t stop looking up.

A blank wall is no longer just a blank wall. A corner above a street sign deserves inspection. So does the space over a doorway, beside a drainpipe or several feet above your head.

And every once in a while, an alien is staring back at you.

Meet Mr Djoul, a French mosaic street artist whose little extraterrestrials have become his signature. His work belongs to the broader Paris tradition of pixel-inspired mosaic street art, and sources tracing his work report that he began creating urban pixel art around 2016. More than 1,000 works had already been documented by early 2022, with pieces appearing in France and elsewhere in Europe. 

That sounds like the beginning of another Paris scavenger hunt to me.

First, Learn to Recognize the Alien

Mr Djoul’s mosaics can initially be confused with the work of Invader, especially if you are simply scanning buildings for little pixelated creatures.

But look more carefully.

Mr Djoul has developed his own recurring extraterrestrial character, usually with large distinctive eyes. One guide to Paris pixel art notes that, unlike Invader’s constantly changing creatures, Mr Djoul repeatedly returns to a characteristic alien form. 

That gives us our first scavenger-hunt clue:

Look for the eyes.

Once you recognize them, you start seeing Mr Djoul’s aliens in all sorts of situations.

Stop 1: Two Aliens Shake Hands

📍 7 Rue du Bourg Tibourg, 4th arrondissement

This is a particularly fun one.

Two aliens, one dark and one white, face each other and shake hands. Behind them is a rainbow-like arrangement of red, yellow, green, blue and violet tiles.

The piece was documented here in January 2023. 

There is something wonderfully cheerful about it. These aren’t frightening extraterrestrials arriving to conquer Earth. They look as though they have just met on a Paris street and decided to become friends.

And perhaps that is the perfect introduction to Mr Djoul.

Scavenger-hunt challenge: Find both aliens and photograph yourself returning their greeting.

Stop 2: The Pink Alien in the Marais

📍 2 Rue des Hospitalières Saint-Gervais, 4th arrondissement

Here’s another little creature to hunt.

A pale pink alien with green eyes has been installed against a wall covered with tiny blue tiles. The piece was photographed at this location in June 2025.

This is exactly the sort of street art that can disappear into its surroundings if you aren’t paying attention.

The alien isn’t enormous.

It isn’t demanding your attention.

It is simply there, waiting for somebody to notice it.

And now that we know what we’re looking for, we’re going to notice it.

Stop 3: The Rainbow Alien

📍 Corner of Rue des Lombards and Rue Saint-Martin, 4th arrondissement

Now search for a rainbow.

This little alien head is surrounded by bands of red, yellow, green and blue tiles and tucked onto the corner of a building beneath a traditional Parisian street lamp.

I love the juxtaposition: an old-fashioned Paris street lamp, traditional blue enamel street signs and a tiny pixelated extraterrestrial.

Old Paris meets an 8-bit universe.

That’s precisely the kind of visual collision that makes street-art hunting so much fun.

Stop 4: Look Up on Rue Saint-Jacques

📍 Rue Saint-Jacques, 5th arrondissement

Here’s where the hunt becomes more difficult.

Look above the balconies.

A documented Mr Djoul work on Rue Saint-Jacques consists of a simple alien head constructed from blue and gray tiles. The piece was deliberately placed above balcony level, which means staring straight ahead while walking isn’t going to find it. 

New rule for the scavenger hunt:

Look up.

Street artists use the vertical city, while most of us experience Paris horizontally. Once you start deliberately scanning upward, an entirely different city appears.

Stop 5: The Orange Alien of Montorgueil

📍 43 Rue Montorgueil, 2nd arrondissement

Rue Montorgueil is already one of those streets where there is plenty competing for your attention: cafés, shops, food and people.

But somewhere among all that activity was another visitor.

Mr Djoul installed a small orange humanoid alien with enormous eyes on a pillar here. The work was documented in January 2023. The street-art database now marks this particular piece as gone, which introduces another reality of our scavenger hunt. 

Street art isn’t permanent.

A building can be renovated. A wall can be painted. A mosaic can disappear.

So sometimes the hunt ends with an empty wall.

Oddly, I think that makes finding the surviving pieces even more satisfying.

Stop 6: Rue Ampère

📍 Rue Ampère, 17th arrondissement

Here’s one I particularly like.

Above the classic Paris RUE AMPERE sign floats a tiny UFO.

Inside it?

You guessed it.

An alien.

The little green-faced creature appears to be piloting its spacecraft directly over the street sign.

It is funny, clever and easy to miss, which may be the perfect combination for this kind of street art.

Stop 7: An Alien Goes Skateboarding

And just when you think you understand Mr Djoul’s little extraterrestrials, one gets considerably more ambitious.

Near Beaubourg, a much larger mosaic photographed in March 2025 shows a bright blue alien riding a red skateboard, arms extended, with movement lines flying behind him.

This isn’t simply an alien head stuck to a wall. It is an entire little scene.

By this point in our scavenger hunt, the aliens have shaken hands, flown UFOs and gone skateboarding.

Apparently extraterrestrial life in Paris is quite active.

Sometimes Mr Djoul Has Company

There is another wrinkle to this hunt.

Mr Djoul’s work sometimes appears alongside or in collaboration with other mosaic artists, including A2, another Paris street artist whose imagery includes hearts and pixelated figures. A documented installation at 40 Rue des Archives included several mosaics associated with A2 and Mr Djoul, including a dark face with two red hearts for eyes. 

Another documented work at 42 Rue Monsieur le Prince also lists both artists. 

So finding one mosaic may lead to another.

And another.

That’s how a casual walk through Paris suddenly becomes a treasure hunt.

The Rules of the Mr Djoul Challenge

I think my rules would be simple:

1. Look up, down and around corners.
2. Find the alien.
3. Photograph it in its surroundings, not just as a close-up.
4. Look nearby for other street artists.
5. Never assume every pixelated mosaic is an Invader.
6. And give yourself bonus points if your alien is doing something ridiculous.

There is also no guarantee that a mosaic documented several years ago will still be there. That isn’t a flaw in the hunt. It is part of street art.

Now I Have Another Reason to Wander

This is becoming one of my favorite ways to explore Paris.

I can visit the Louvre to see art that has been carefully protected for centuries. Then I can walk outside and search for art that might be gone tomorrow.

Mr Djoul’s aliens aren’t waiting behind museum glass.

They’re hiding above balconies, beside street signs, around corners and on walls we normally pass without a second glance.

And there are enough of them that finding one doesn’t really finish the hunt.

It just makes me want to find the next one.

So the next time I’m wandering through Paris and everyone else is looking at the shops, cafés and monuments, I’ll probably be doing something slightly different.

I’ll be looking for aliens.

#MrDjoul #ParisStreetArt #ParisScavengerHunt #MosaicArt #PixelArt #StreetArtParis #HiddenParis #ParisPhotography #ParisAliens #ExploreParis

The Paris Mosaic Scavenger Hunt: Discovering Morèje’s Hidden Stories

Paris has a way of rewarding people who look closely.

You can walk down the same street a dozen times, admiring the balconies, cafés and old stone buildings, and then suddenly notice something you have never seen before: a tiny mosaic embedded in a wall.

That is where the scavenger hunt begins.

One of the artists whose work can be discovered this way is Morèje, the artistic name of French artist Jérôme Gulon. His mosaics are scattered through Paris, sometimes so subtly incorporated into the architecture that it would be easy to walk right past them.

But finding one is only half the game.

Look for the Story Behind the Mosaic

Morèje approaches street art differently from many mosaic artists. Instead of simply choosing an empty wall and installing an image, he has created what he calls parcours, or routes.

The individual mosaics become points along those routes.

One of the most fascinating is his Parcours de la Commune, devoted to people associated with the Paris Commune of 1871. Small portraits appear around Paris in places connected to the people depicted or to the history of the Commune.

So here are the rules for my Morèje scavenger hunt:

Find the mosaic. Identify the person. Then figure out why Morèje put it there.

Suddenly, street-art hunting becomes a history lesson.

Hunt #1: Jean-Baptiste Clément

One person to look for is Jean-Baptiste Clément, a journalist, political activist and participant in the Paris Commune. He is also remembered for writing the lyrics to Le Temps des cerises, a song that became closely associated with the Commune.

Morèje depicts him in a small portrait surrounded by irregular colored pieces of mosaic.

Finding the portrait is interesting.

Discovering who Clément was makes it better.

Understanding why his image belongs in that particular Paris neighborhood completes the puzzle.

Hunt #2: Louise Michel

Next, look for Louise Michel.

Teacher, revolutionary, writer and one of the best-known figures associated with the Commune, Michel spent part of her life in Montmartre.

Morèje incorporated her into his Commune project as well.

This is where the scavenger hunt becomes particularly fun. You aren’t searching for a giant mural covering the side of a building. You are searching for something small enough to disappear into the visual clutter of Paris.

Check walls.

Look beside doorways.

Study corners.

And don’t forget to look down.

Hunt #3: Gustave Courbet

Another name on the hunt is artist Gustave Courbet.

Courbet became involved with the Commune and famously opposed the Vendôme Column, which he regarded as a symbol of militarism. The column was pulled down during the Commune and later rebuilt.

So where might Morèje place a work connected with Courbet?

Place Vendôme.

This is exactly what makes the project so clever. Once you understand the history, the location becomes another clue.

Hunt #4: Paul Verlaine

Not every Morèje trail concerns the Commune.

Head toward the Batignolles and another literary clue awaits.

Poet Paul Verlaine lived with his family on Rue Nollet during his youth. Morèje created a tribute to Verlaine in the neighborhood, turning another ordinary Paris street into a place where literature, biography and contemporary art intersect.

This is the kind of street art I particularly enjoy. You aren’t simply photographing an object. You are discovering why it belongs where you found it.

Hunt #5: Find Something You Weren’t Looking For

This may be the most important challenge of all.

Forget the list for a while.

Put away the map.

Walk.

Morèje has been placing mosaics in public spaces for decades, and his work isn’t limited to conventional square ceramic tiles. Some pieces incorporate photographs, drawings, text and unexpected materials.

That means you have to train your eyes.

A tiny patch of color on an old wall may not be a repair.

A little portrait near a doorway may not be a plaque.

That strange collection of tesserae you nearly walked past may be exactly what you came to Paris to find.

Paris Becomes the Museum

Perhaps that is what I like most about turning Morèje’s work into a scavenger hunt.

There is no admission ticket.

There is no gallery entrance.

There isn’t even a sign telling you where to stand.

Instead, the streets become the exhibition space.

You begin with a mosaic. The mosaic leads to a person. The person leads to a historical event. And suddenly the building, street or square around you means something different than it did five minutes earlier.

Paris has always been a city layered with history.

Morèje simply gives us another reason to slow down and look for it.

And once you’ve spotted your first little mosaic tucked into a Paris wall, there is really only one question left:

Where is the next one hiding?

#Moreje #JeromeGulon #ParisStreetArt #ParisScavengerHunt #MosaicArt #StreetArtParis #ParisCommune #HiddenParis #ParisPhotography #ExploreParis