Selfie Spots: Minneapolis Murals

Visiting Minneapolis murals should be on your list of things to do. It’s fun, free, and accommodates social distancing. Over the years, building walls, garages, water towers, and even farm silos in Minnesota have been transformed into canvases of colorful displays of art. When my teenage daughter and I had a free Friday together we picked up Starbucks chai tea lattes and headed into Minneapolis to find some fun selfie spots.

We used findmasa.com to locate some of the murals since they are labeled with addresses. This makes the hunt easier and saves gas. The cool thing about findmasa.com is you can add your persona mural photos to the site to help others.

Tip: When you go on a mural hunt, I suggest you plan an itinerary and add addresses to your favorite map app for a smooth tour.

When the address is in hand, finding the street art and parking places is easy. With that said, the closer to downtown the more construction we encountered. One positive note, the traffic was much lighter than pre-COVID, making for easy maneuvering around the city streets.

Bob Dylan Mural – Positively 4th Street

This summer when we were in Duluth we tracked down Bob Dylan’s yellow childhood home so it’s no surprise we are going to hunt down his murals. This one, located in Dinkytown, is smaller than the other full-scale mural in Minneapolis.

Chasing Butterflies

Anyone who knows me is aware butterflies are my favorite creature. Obviously, this was one of my favorite paintings. In the lower right corner is this statement: “Monarch butterflies are symbols of free migration in North America, but their numbers are in decline and they need our help.” The mural is by Roger Peet and Barry Newman. by the Center for Biological Diversity.

Outdoors

We stumbled across the mural below when driving north on Cedar. Another mural by El Collgio is located on the wall of the dress store on the next street south, 42nd/Cedar (we didn’t catch the actual address.

LOVE Mural

This 3-D LOVE mural is the backdrop for a bus stop. As a result, it should be a surprise that a real estate agent graces the bus bench right in front. Talk about ideal product placement. Regardless, the bench makes for a fun photo prop.

SCHMITT MUSIC WALL

Five stories high and located in downtown Minneapolis, the music painted on a brick wall is likely one of the oldest murals in the city. In the 1970’s the building was Schmitt Music headquarters. According to a CBS Local article, called Finding Minnesota: The Mystery Musical Mural, the music is from a piano piece written by French composer Maurice Ravel called “Gaspard de la Nuit.”

Today, the wall faces a public pay parking lot. Unless you find an empty parking spot as we did, expect cars in your photo unless you aim up. In the winter you may encounter huge banks of snow.