Pilsen's streets serve as one of Chicago's largest outdoor galleries — dozens of building-scale murals covering entire facades along 16th Street, 18th Street, and the streets between them. The tradition of public muralism here descends from the Mexican muralistas and has been continuously active since the 1970s, when Mexican-American artists began claiming this space from the neighbourhood's older Eastern European immigrant population.
The murals range from traditional Mexican iconography and political imagery to contemporary abstract work. The best concentration is along West 18th Street and the viaducts along the CTA Pink Line. Self-guided walking maps are available at the National Museum of Mexican Art. The murals are always accessible, always free, and a better survey of living Chicago street art than anything in the official gallery system. Pink Line, 18th station.