Bob Dylan Minneapolis mural

The Bob Dylan mural on the west facade of 15 South Fifth Street in downtown Minneapolis was painted in the fall of 2015 by Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra, who is internationally known for large-scale, vividly coloured public works. The commission was arranged through the Hennepin Theatre Trust. Spanning 160 feet wide and five stories tall — at the time the largest work Kobra had painted in the United States — it depicts Dylan in three stages of his life, with lyrics from "The Times They Are A-Changin'" running along one side.

Dylan was born in Duluth in 1941, grew up in Hibbing, and moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota in 1959. It was there, in the Dinkytown neighbourhood near campus, that he began performing folk music seriously, adopted the Bob Dylan name, and sharpened the persona he would take to New York the following year. The city has a legitimate claim on a formative period of his development, and the mural in the Hennepin Theatre District — steps from the venues where he played his first professional shows — acknowledges that.

Kobra's style is unmistakable: bold geometric patterns of colour, kaleidoscopic and vivid, applied to portraits that are instantly recognisable from a distance. The Dylan mural has become one of the most photographed public landmarks in Minnesota and a staple of Minneapolis walking tours.

The mural remains in place on the building at Fifth Street and Hennepin Avenue. The broader Hennepin Theatre District around it has developed additional Dylan connections, and for visitors arriving from the Midwest, Minneapolis is often the first stop on an informal Dylan trail that also takes in Duluth, Hibbing, and Woodstock.