Il faut se méfier des mots, Installation artwork and mural at Place Frehel, Paris, France.

Il faut se méfier des mots is a three-dimensional work by Ben Vautier on Place Fréhel: a giant black panel spanning a building wall, with white cursive script reading "Il faut se méfier des mots." Two facsimiles of workers in blue overalls appear to install it—one seated on the top of the party wall, the other in a lift platform. The panel is signed and dated at the lower right.

Ben Vautier created this three-dimensional work in 1993 on a building wall on Place Fréhel. The blackboard originally carried a different sentence, "N'importe qui peut avoir une idée", before the current phrase was painted. The piece borrows its title from a 1992 Ben exhibition held at Catherine Issert's gallery. The whole square project was designed and coordinated by the Chilean-born architect Véronica Tello.

The French inscription invites viewers to think critically about language and its power in shaping how we understand the world. It speaks directly to daily life in a city where messages and advertisements surround us constantly.

The mural is located at a busy corner with good bus connections and a nearby metro station. Visitors can view the entire artwork from street level without needing to enter any building or pay an admission fee.

The blackboard originally carried a different sentence: "N'importe qui peut avoir une idée" (Anyone can have an idea). Ben replaced it with the current phrase, which he had already used as the title of a 1992 exhibition at Catherine Issert's gallery. The work is signed and dated in the lower right corner of the panel.