The most impressive 3D street artwork on record is 3D Joe and Max’s 2011 London painting for Reebok CrossFit, which covered about 1,160 square metres (12,490 square feet) and set a Guinness record for the largest 3D street art. 3D street art uses anamorphosis, a perspective technique that makes flat paving look like a cliff, a river or a ship when viewed from one spot. Here are 10 of the most unbelievable works, ranked by our own scoring of scale, realism and impact.
| Rank | Artwork | Artist | Where / when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reebok CrossFit landscape | 3D Joe and Max | West London, 2011 |
| 2 | Ice Age 3 scene | Edgar Müller | Wood Lane, London, 2009; 330 square metres |
| 3 | The Crevasse | Edgar Müller | Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, 2008 |
| 4 | Moscow street painting | Edgar Müller | Moscow, 2009 |
| 5 | Lava river street | Edgar Müller | Germany |
| 6 | Spider-Man for Universal Studios Japan | Kurt Wenner | Japan, 10th anniversary |
| 7 | The Belgian Underground | Kurt Wenner | Brussels |
| 8 | Sprite surfer | 3D Joe and Max | Office building floor |
| 9 | Titanic painting | Not credited | Berlin |
| 10 | Costa coffee cup | Manfred Stader | Covent Garden, London |
First, a short history. Street painting goes back centuries: the Italian Madonnari date to the sixteenth century, and the first recorded street-painting competition took place in London in 1906. The 3D version came in the 1980s, when Kurt Wenner, a former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory artist who left in 1982 and moved to Italy, applied one-point perspective, or anamorphic art, a 500-year-old technique, to pavement. His work has been shown in more than 30 countries. In 1987, Wenner and Manfred Stader introduced street painting to Old Mission Santa Barbara in California.
What changed: scale and sponsorship. Brand-funded installations now compete for records, and one in China claims to be the longest 3D street painting at 2,737 square metres, though we found no Guinness certificate for it. A smaller Malaysian train-line mural has been recognised as a national record for the largest 3D outdoor painting.
1. 3D Joe and Max: Reebok CrossFit, London
In 2011 the London duo painted plunging cliffs and waterfalls on a West London street, sponsored by Reebok CrossFit. At about 1,160 square metres (12,490 square feet) it set the Guinness record for the largest 3D street art, beating the previous 892 square metre mark. People were invited to do the CrossFit workout of the day on the painting itself.
2. Edgar Müller: Ice Age 3, Wood Lane, London
In 2009, a Guinness adjudicator verified Müller’s Ice Age 3 promotional pavement piece in Wood Lane, West London. It covered 330 square metres and beat his own earlier record. The wintry scene was inspired by the film.
3. Edgar Müller: The Crevasse, Ireland
From 21 to 24 August 2008, Müller painted a section of the East Pier at Dun Laoghaire during the Festival of World Cultures. The Crevasse shows an ice-age crack opening in the ground. It made him famous, and it still stops people before they step on it.
4. Edgar Müller: Moscow
In 2009 Müller was invited to a street art festival in Moscow, organised by a shopping centre. The theme was free, and he built a landscape inspired by a trip to the island of Cres. It was the first project in his series Unconditional love.
5. Edgar Müller: lava river street, Germany
Back in Germany, Müller painted a street that seems to have collapsed, with a rushing river below and rocks cut by lava. It is an optical illusion, but most people will still pause before stepping on it. As the line goes, the point of 3D art is working out where reality ends and the painting begins.
6. Kurt Wenner: Spider-Man, Universal Studios Japan
Wenner created this piece for the theme park’s 10th anniversary. The reported size is about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, plus vertical artwork. It is one of the best examples of how a former NASA illustrator uses mathematics to build the illusion.
7. Kurt Wenner: The Belgian Underground, Brussels
This painting shows a scene of Piccadilly Circus in London that seems to fall into the ground under a Brussels street. Wenner is widely credited as the inventor of 3D pavement art, and the geometry he developed makes images appear to rise from or fall into the surface.
8. 3D Joe and Max: Sprite surfer
On the floor of an office building, the duo created a chalk-style 3D waterfall for a Sprite campaign, with a man surfing a wave of Sprite. Visitors lined up to take pictures on the surfboard, which shows that brands now use 3D art as a photo magnet.
9. Titanic painting, Berlin
A giant ship appears to come out from between two buildings, and the painting covers the walls of a whole building. We could not confirm the artist or whether it still exists, so treat this entry as a classic of the genre rather than a current attraction.
10. Manfred Stader: coffee cup, Covent Garden
In front of a restaurant in Covent Garden, London, a painted cup of coffee sat on a saucer so realistically that people posed on the plate under the cup. Stader is one of the best-known street painters and worked with Wenner in the 1980s. Reports say a frog sat in the foam. We cannot confirm that the artwork is still on show.
Where can you see 3D street painting today?
Most pavement art is temporary, which is part of its appeal. The Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival in Florida, held since 1994, draws about 100,000 visitors a weekend to see 250 works by over 400 artists. Italy’s Grazie di Curtatone festival has run since 1972. Check each festival’s dates before you travel.
Which one did you like the most? Tell us in the comments.
FAQ
What is 3D street art?
Street painting that uses anamorphosis, a perspective technique, so a flat image looks three-dimensional from one viewpoint.
Who invented 3D pavement art?
Kurt Wenner, a former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory artist, developed it in the 1980s after studying Italian street painting.
What is the largest 3D street painting?
3D Joe and Max’s 2011 London piece for Reebok CrossFit set a Guinness record at about 1,160 square metres. A claimed larger piece in China lacks a Guinness certificate we could find.
Are 3D street paintings permanent?
Usually not. Most use chalk or paint on pavement and last days or weeks, so artists photograph them.
Where is the biggest street painting festival in the US?
The Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival in Florida, with about 100,000 visitors and 250 works.
Who is Edgar Müller?
A German street artist, born in 1968, known for The Crevasse (Ireland, 2008) and the Ice Age 3 piece (London, 2009).
Last updated: October 2026.
