Street artist Invader secretly covered Marseille in mosaics this summer

If you’ve ever been to Paris, you’ll probably be acquainted with the mosaics of Invader. More than 1,000 of the street artist’s works adorn street corners across the City of Light. Much like the ubiquitous, slightly disconcerting posters of un certain John Hamon, you’ll come across those iconic pixellated aliens pretty much everywhere you turn in the French capital.

In recent years, the anonymous artist’s works have also been popping up on walls in big cities as far-flung as Los Angeles and Hong Kong. But his latest target is much closer to home. Over the summer, in fact, he has secretly installed more than 80 artworks all over the French port city of Marseille, from the historic Old Harbour to the touristy bays of the nearby calanques.

Part of an ambitious new exhibition at the MAMO art centre – which is housed within Le Corbusier’s celebrated Cité Radieuse complex – the artist set up a secret studio on top of the building. Alongside a temporary show, titled ‘Invader Was Here’, he spent a busy two weeks stealthily plastering the city with permanent mosaics of varying shapes and sizes.

Here’s a selection of the most eye-catching ones. Bonus points for anyone who can make out a true footballing legend (and probably Marseille’s most famous son).

_{MARS_90, Invader, Marseille, 2020. Photograph: Invader}

_{MARS_39, Invader, Marseille, 2020. Photograph: Invader}

_{MARS_27, Invader, Marseille, 2020. Photograph: Invader}

_{MARS_53, Invader, Marseille, 2020. Photograph: Invader}

_{MARS_43, Invader, Marseille, 2020. Photograph: Invader}

_{MARS_56, Invader, Marseille, 2020. Photograph: Invader}

_{MARS_62, Invader, Marseille, 2020. Photograph: Invader}

_{MARS_68, Invader, Marseille, 2020. Photograph: Invader}

More pretty things to look at:

These renderings show how creative kids reimagined NYC landmarks
In pictures: Paris’s one-night-only floating cinema
This photographer takes dreamy photos of swimming pools from above