David de la Mano has completed Élan, a new mural in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France, for the 2026 International Festival of Geography (FIG).
Painted on the façade of a building set to become Cambium Campus, a university-level cybersecurity education site, the work takes its title from the French word for an initial surge of movement. De la Mano describes Élan as “a spontaneous force, a desire to move forward, to cross a space and transform it.”
The mural responds to FIG 2026’s theme, “Landscape,” which the artist approaches not as a static view but as territory to be moved through, experienced and inhabited. In his reading of the Vosges, the surrounding forests, mountains and valleys become an evolving environment marked by both nature and human presence.
Birds in flight and forms extending across the façade carry that idea of momentum through the composition. For de la Mano, these elements suggest an impulse passing through the landscape and connecting people to their territory.
The 37th edition of the International Festival of Geography is scheduled to take place in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges from October 2 to 4, 2026, with “Landscape” as its central theme and Bulgaria and Romania as its guest countries.
Images via @daviddelamano_ on Instagram.