Walking the Mural Trail in Glasgow.
Glasgow.
The first time I traveled to Glasgow, it was to trace some of our ancestral roots.
During that visit, I stumbled upon the murals found along the streets of Glasgow quite by accident. I shared about the murals that I chanced upon in this post. And it was only upon returning home from that trip that I discovered the City Centre Mural Trail. I knew that if I returned to Glasgow, seeing more of the murals would be a “must” on the itinerary.
Returning to Glasgow.
As life would unfold, I would again have the chance to return to Glasgow. While we were staying in Edinburgh, my mother and I decided to take a day trip over on the train. And she was more than happy to indulge my desire to seek out more murals.
Murals.
While I still did not complete the entire mural trail, I did see quite a few.
Let’s check them out, shall we?
The World’s Most Economical Taxi.
I was very excited to see Rogue-One’s mural of a man hailing a floating taxi.
It’s located on Mitchell Street off of Argyle Street. Mitchell Street is a narrower road, so I passed it once thinking it was an alley. Plus my Google map app wasn’t being very user-friendly (which is rare for it) so it took me a bit to find it. Sometimes when you are traveling, things are not what you expected. I almost missed this mural because there was scaffolding in front of it.
Interesting fact: The wall is painted to appear as a brick wall because the artist wanted the background to be a brick wall.
Honey…I Shrunk the Kids.
This giant mural is by the artist Smug (Sam Bates). If you did read my first mural post, then you already know that this artist painted one of my favorite murals, Saint Mungo. The mural is located just past the taxi mural as you continue on Mitchell Street.
I am still in awe of his attention to detail is such enormous murals.
Wind Power.
I love dandelions and blowing on them while making wishes. So I knew that I wanted to see this piece by Rogue-One and Art Pistol. This mural is found along Mitchell Street as well.
It celebrates the diversity of sustainable energy production within Glasgow and also in Scotland as a whole.
Glasgow Panda.
Next, we turned down Mitchell Lane. I wanted to visit The Lighthouse.
The Lighthouse was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (a famous Glaswegian) and was his first commissioned building. It was originally part of the Glasgow Herald and is now Scotland’s Centre for Design and Architecture. It is an architectural beauty with rooftop views of the city. We toured the building, which I will share about in a future post.
After exiting, we admired Klingatron’s Glasgow Panda, located on Gordon Lane.
The Gallery.
We caught a bus to the location of our next viewing. Our time was limited and a portion of this mural was very high on my list.
The Gallery is a mural by the artist Smug (Sam Bates). At this point, given the artist, I guess we aren’t surprised that this would include some of my favorite work.
This mural extends along two sides of the boarded up exterior of a former store on Argyle Street.
Much of the mural features interpretations of famous paintings.
Such as Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait.
There are quite a few details to take in.
I haven’t even captured all of the pieces of this expansive mural.
In this section, you can see interpretations of Munch’s The Scream and also the wilting clock is taken from Dali’s The Persistence of Memory.
And we can’t forget Hokusai’s Great Wave!
What an amazing piece of work. One of my teens has that Hokusai piece as a poster and another has something similar as the cover of their drawing book.
piéce de résistance.
So this section of The Gallery is why I trekked over here.
I came for one piece more so than others, but they are all truly famous pieces.
Picasso.
First, you have Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. This is where I share that I can appreciate Picasso, but I do not love most of his work.
Collective gasps.
I do like The Old Guitarist if that helps my art cred.
Jackson Pollack.
I don’t “dislike” Jackson Pollack. I’m not necessarily enamored by his work either. However, Jackson Pollack stands out to me because when my oldest was about 6 or 7 he took all of our large bottles of paints (used for their craft time) and proceeded to squirt them out all across our wooden deck in a haphazard pattern.
When I came out to it (pre-“let me document everything” world c. 2006), I grabbed the hose to clean the deck before it became permanent (thank goodness they were washable paints).
At the same time, I was intrigued by his creative ingenuity and commented to my husband that it was Pollackesque.
Fast forward just a bit to our niece’s wedding shortly thereafter, which was held in Richmond, Virginia. We visited the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. And while I was drawn to Degas’ bronze ballerinas, this child stopped and stared at the Pollack piece on display.
da Vinci.
The Mona Lisa has been dubbed the Mona Lassie. Extra graffiti has been added beyond the artist’s work. She holds a can of Irn-Bru (dubbed Scotland’s other National drink), which I sampled during my one day on the Isle of Lewis.
Starry Night.
Along with many people, Starry Night is one of my favorite pieces of art.
I can’t quite say why I was drawn to this piece with the girl emerging from Starry Night, but I was.
And I had to see it in person.
And I did.
Interesting fact: This article shows how Van Gogh’s Starry Night may have been influenced by Hokusai’s Great Wave. I think that is quite interesting given the fact that they are shared in the same mural.
River Clyde.
From here we would travel to check out the view along the River Clyde.
We would think about our ancestors and travel along the places that they likely traveled.
After a walk through the West End and down Ashton Lane, it was time to grab a bite to eat and catch the train.
We had to catch the train back and had waited too long to eat on Ashton Lane, well-known for its cobbled streets and great atmosphere. All of the places were overflowing by this point on a Friday night.
Sloans.
We passed Sloans as we made our way back to the train station.
We considered grabbing a bite to eat here, but it was Friday and every Friday is Ceilidh. Dancing the night away was not on our itinerary since we had to catch the train back to Edinburgh.
While not on the Glasgow Mural trail, they are still murals and are quite impressive ones too.
I love stumbling upon something that has withstood the test of time.
Given that Sloans was established in 1797, I’d say that it has some longevity…180 years more than me.
Have you been to Glasgow?
Came upon any murals?
Which are your favorite?
For more from my visits to Glasgow, be sure to check out these posts:
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
Cloisters at University of Glasgow
And be sure to check out the other posts from my time in London and Scotland. They can be found in the UK category under Destinations.
Let your light shine!
Amy
This looks amazing. I love street art of many forms. Your post has lightened my day, Thank you for sharing!
I’m so glad that you enjoyed it! I love street art as well and am alway excited when I stumble upon some. 🙂
Great post 😁
Interesting, thanks
I’m glad that you enjoyed it! 🙂
Thank you for sharing! Love the low wall, green grass, blowing the dandelion best!
I’m glad that you enjoyed them. I’m always amazed by their creativity. That dandelion one was quite creative and the “puffs” kept going even past the end of my shot.
Wow!! These murals are spectacular!!! The creativity is just astounding. Thanks for sharing this, Amy! Fun to read and see.
I’m glad that you liked seeing them. I always find these type of murals to be amazing. Both from an artistic standpoint, but also how they are able to accomplish the sheer size of them!
There are many really great pieces in here. I’m always particularly drawn to the massive works that cover an entire side of a building like the woman reaching down to pick up an object.
The one that is most appealing to me however is the trompe l’oeil of the girl stepping out of the Starry Night. I LOVE this kind of work.
I feel the same! I love those giant murals, but something about that girl stepping out of the Starry Night just called to me!
This is amazing. Everywhere I go I try to find murals and I always find the amazing streets filled with them. Till Now I loved the one from Aruba.
I love finding murals too. I’m always impressed by the work that the artist put in to create such a large work of art.
Such incredible artwork! I have something similar in my home town that I have yet to explore. You’ve just given me all the motivation I need to do it!
I hope that you have a great time exploring it in your hometown! We have some nearby here in Virginia that I still need to get out and see. I love how Glasgow lets you know where they are. Often I stumble across them in a city and had no idea that they existed.
What an adventure. Love your photos – so artsy! The Panda mural is my favourite. It’s great to explore this side of a city.
Thank you! That Panda mural was great! I like trying to find things that are a little more obscure as well as the tourist hot spots. It adds variety. 🙂
Wow, the mural trail in Glasgow looks like so much fun! I love murals and street art! I really like the floating taxi, the Glasgow Panda, and Wind Power.
It was fun! I’d love to still see the ones I missed and take in some of the details of my favorites again. That floating taxi is amazing. I’m hoping that if I get a chance to return that it won’t have the scaffolding in front. I love dandelions and the magic they represent so I love almost any photo or painting that includes them. 🙂
Great views! I love seeing murals when I travel and how it shows off the artistic culture of a community. Have you visited the Comuna 13 in Medellin, Colombia? Also, a community with great muralists.
I love how Glasgow has fully embraced an artistic culture. Their architecture is quite artistic too. I haven’t been to Colombia, but I love that there are places with great muralists. It adds so much vibrancy to a community.
Wow each of the murals are so stunning. I love how a city comes alive with its street art and murals.
I think street art and murals do lend so much to making a city come alive. I’m glad you enjoyed these! 🙂
Beautiful! Who knew Glasgow had such an incredible street art scene! I particularly love the perspective in the second photograph, of the woman and the magnifying glass. Very well done!
I was surprised to stumble upon the street art during my first visit. That mural is quite impressive. I love the vibrant colors in it as well. I think I loved all his works!! 🙂
I cannot believe how detailed many of these murals are. I especially love the Glasgow gallery mimicking an art gallery. So unbelievably clever and talented.
I’m always impressed by the creativity of artists. I thought that the gallery was such a unique concept. I don’t know how they manage such attention to detail on a piece of art so large!! 🙂
Never knew Glasgow had such amazing murals and street art. All of them are so different from each other and really outstanding. The floating taxi, Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait, wind power, the giant girl with a magnifying glass, these all seem captivating and spectacular.
I surprised to learn about them as well. It definitely makes me want to hunt down street art in other cities. The murals that you mention were spectacular. I don’t know how they manage to create such large pieces…but I’m glad that they do.
What a cool walking trail. The pieces are magnificent and so detailed. I’m especially drawn to the “honey I shrunk the kids and “wind power.” Such talent and what a fun trail. Thanks for sharing this unique tour in Glasgow.
I’m glad you enjoyed the tour. The artists did a phenomenal job. I’m envious of their skills. Those are great choices for favorites. They were high on my list too. 🙂