Destination: Paris : CLOSING SCENES : A workaday street in the Montmartre district shutters to become an open-air art gallery

For years, when the merchants on Rue Cavallotti rolled down the heavy iron shutters to protect their storefronts at night, they saw nothing but grime and graffiti on the outside. Hardly an inviting backdrop for a stroll on a warm summer evening.

But Anne-Pascale Crevecoeur and Alexandra Pastorino saw something else on those iron curtains. Canvasses. Great big, permanent canvasses. One each for the florist, the doctor, the baker, the restaurants and all the other storefronts on the small, narrow street in the 18th Arrondissement, in a working-class neighborhood just steps from the Sacre Coeur Basilica.

And, voila , grimy old Rue Cavallotti became, as a banner at one end of the street proclaims, the “Gallery of Art of the Open Sky.” When the shops close these days, the narrow, 100-yard-long steet comes alive. Gone is the black graffiti, replaced by paintings, in vivid colors, on the 28 store shutters.

Each painting is in the style of a famous artist or art school and, together, they are a walk through history. Piero della Francesca and the Italian Renaissance. Salvador Dali’s surrealism. Art nouveau a la Gustav Klimt.

The transformation of Rue Cavallotti occurred last year, when Crevecoeur, 26, and Pastorino, 29, along with eight other young Paris art designers, donned overalls to scrub off the graffiti and replace it with art.

But the preparations began months before. The neighborhood merchants were wary at first, and none of the merchants could afford the street overhaul, so the women petitioned the city of Paris, winning most of the financing. They persuaded a paint company and an arts supply dealer to donate the paint and materials.

Then they began the task of selecting which painting was right for each storefront, and negotiating their decision with the merchants. The Rousseau-style tropical scene was perfect for the florist. The insurance company got a collection of advertising billboards, circa 1930. One lone merchant, an electrician, held out, refusing to allow his metal shutters to be painted. But when he saw the entire street bathed in art, he changed his mind. The artists delivered an Amedeo Modigliani-style painting titled “Maternity.”

Now, each evening, on the weekends and on Mondays, when many of the stores are closed, the block is crowded with passersby from the neighborhood and from across Paris. Photographers bring their models to pose, and an advertising company recently shot photos of a new-model Porsche here.

And, best of all, there’s no more tagging. The paintings have been treated with a special varnish, impervious to graffiti.