9 Famous Artists’ Studios You Can See on Street View

1. Frida Kahlo’s studio and home, Mexico City

A cultural landmark in Mexico City, Frida Kahlo shared her studio and house with husband Diego Rivera. The building combines organic Mexican architecture and architectural murals with functionalism, which, during the 1930s, broke away from traditional aesthetics. Kahlo’s house has existed as a museum since 1958, just four years after the painter’s death and is one of the busiest museums in the capital.

2. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s loft studio, New York

Native New Yorker Jean-Michel Basquiat lived and worked in the loft of this building, which was then owned by Andy Warhol. Previously a horse stable and then a dance hall saloon in the 1900s, it was here the artist created the work that caught the attention of the city’s top galleries. While the building now houses a semi-secret Japanese restaurant called Bohemian, a commemorative plaque sits outside the building acknowledging the 5 years Basquiat lived there.

3. Matisse’s first studio in Nice, France

Henri Matisse bought his first studio in Nice soon after 1917, just next to the Promenade des Anglais – a prime spot for checking out beach dwellers. The building still looks grand and elegant today, but there's little hint that Matisse once lived here.

4. Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner's house and studio barn, Long Island, New York

Jackson Pollock and his wife Lee Krasner bought this house in East Hampton, Long Island in 1945, complete with a small barn next to the property that Pollock ended up using for his own studio. The artist’s brother had given him a large collection of square Masonite baseball game boards and Pollock used them to cover the floor of the house and studio.

5. Barbara Hepworth’s studio and garden, St Ives, Cornwall

When the Second World War came, Barbara Hepworth evacuated her family to Cornwall, where she became an key figure in the St Ives modernist art community. In 1949 the artist set up this space called Trewyn Studio to work on her sculptures and experiment with bronze for the first time. The studio, yard and garden remained hers until her death in 1975. The building is now owned and managed by Tate, and operates as a museum and sculpture garden showcasing the artist’s work.

6. Salvador Dali’s extended fisherman’s hut, Girona, Spain

In 1930 Salvador Dali bought a small fisherman’s hut in the village of Portlligat, Catalonia, drawn to the quality of light. He lived here with his partner and muse, Gala, and over the next 40 years the couple expanded and developed the space into a series of labyrinthine nooks. In one area of the house Dali installed a glass floor which allowed him to study feet and foreshortening when practicing life drawing.

7. Joan Miro’s purpose-built studio, Palma, Mallorca

The painter, sculptor and ceramicist Joan Miro set up shop in Palma de Mallorca in 1956 and had a space designed for him by his friend Josep Lluis Sert, called The Son Abrines. The building overlooks the Mediterranean sea and has a distinctive, wing-like white roof with multi-colored shutters.

8. Irma Stern’s house and home, Cape Town, South Africa

South African artist Irma Stern lived in her Cape Town-based home and studio for almost 40 years. Though hidden behind a wall on street level, the house and studio has been kept furnished in the way Irma had originally decorated, with the top floor being converted into a commercial gallery.

9. Alvar Aalto’s modernist studio, Helsinki, Finland

Architect, designer and painter Alvar Aalto designed his studio during 1955-56 in the Tiilimäki neighbourhood of Munkkiniemi, Helsinki. Located just 500m away from Aalto’s house, which he designed and built himself in the 1930s, the studio gave the designer space to work on a large number of commissions at once. The studio is said to be one of Aalto’s best buildings of the 1950s.