The best murals in Boston, according to readers

"I love the public art scene and look forward to it continuing to impact me in surprising ways as I go about my daily life."

For the past decade, artistic and cultural leaders have been pushing for an art scene in Boston that is reflective of the city and accessible for artists and community members alike.

In April 2015, the City of Boston launched its first ever cultural planning process, Boston Creates, focusing attention on how to enhance the artistic community through funding and access to work spaces.

“That process really shaped the direction of what we’re still doing today,” said Kara Elliot-Ortega, Chief of Arts and Culture for the City of Boston. “We have focused our budget in response to what we’ve heard. [This] means supporting individual artists, artists collectives, small nonprofits, and really focusing our resources on those who have not had access to arts funding in the past which tended to look a certain way.”

In July, Boston received $3 million from the Mellon Foundation – the largest grant for public art programming that the city has received yet.

The Un-monument | Re-monument | De-monument: Transforming Boston program will allot funding for over 30 free public art installations and programs all designed to “ensure collective histories are more completely and accurately represented,” as stated in the initiatives announcement.

Boston will also see its first ever Public Art Triennial from May to October of 2025, with 15 different commissions across the city.

“It’s going to be like a jam packed two to three years of public art,” said Elliot-Ortega.

Over the past nine years, the artistic vision for Boston has grown through the expansion of initiatives for public art.

“The great thing about murals is that they are a way for us to work with local BIPOC artists,” said Ortega. “They’re a way for us to like really quickly, clearly, respond to a community and have a visual right that you can immediately relate to.”

In May, the City of Boston announced a new initiative in partnership with creative agency Street Theory called A Canvas of Culture. This project will invest up to $3 million over the course of three years for the installation of large-scale murals and other public art works at Boston Public Schools, eventually expanding the project to other spaces.

“It was really exciting to do this work for this first round with Boston Public Schools because of the direct connection with school leadership, teachers, staff and particularly the students,” said Liza Quiñonez, Transformative Public Art Mural Consultant for the City of Boston and founder, curator, and producer at Street Theory.

“We were able to invite the artists to come into the schools, do some workshops and connect directly with the staff and the students so that they could fully understand what the culture of those schools are.”

So far, about five of the murals for this round of the initiative have been completed. Six more murals will be going up in the spring of next year.

“As the city itself expands to being looked at as a more diverse city, I think that aligns really closely with the kind of work that’s being commissioned now, both through murals as well as the monument project that have currently gotten launched, and really starts to answer the question about who has it been represented in the public realm,” said Quiñonez.

“We can start to change that narrative and create more projects for the community who have been underrepresented up until this time.”

We recently asked readers for their favorite murals around Boston. They shared recommendations from Dorchester to Downtown Boston, and why these pieces are so breathtaking.

‘How to pick just one?!’

“I’ve sat here the last ten minutes pondering how to select my single favorite piece and I cannot, so here is a rough run-down of the ones I love,” wrote Lauren from Jamaica Plain.

Lauren’s top picks can be found all around the city: from Roxbury to Downtown and the art installation in between, murals old and new serve as reflections of the impact of just how powerful public art can be.

“I love the public art scene and look forward to it continuing to impact me in surprising ways as I go about my daily life.”

“All of Problak’s pieces are just amazing, and Breathe Life 3 is probably my first and original favorite of his works. That piece literally exudes joy.”

-Lauren, Jamaica Plain

“All of the various pieces in and around Northeastern are by turns beautiful, interesting, and entertaining.”

-Lauren, Jamaica Plain

‘This mural shows Boston’s more recent history’

“First off, it’s visually stunning in both scale and color. Boston is so often portrayed by its Revolutionary War time history. This mural shows Boston’s more recent history, one that evokes nostalgia from myself and I assume many others. Finally, the details are brilliant, especially the inclusion of Raekwon’s Purple Tape in the boombox.”

– Mike, Medford

‘The mural is a great tribute to a global icon’

“[I] love Cedric “Vise1″ Douglas’ work. This looks like a blown-up black and white photograph. He is so talented. The mural is a great tribute to a global icon who hailed from our community.”

– Patty W., Dorchester

“It was one of the first that really struck me because of the size and the colors.”

– Patty W., Dorchester

“It’s just a striking mural with a positive message. How can you not like it?!”

– Patty W., Dorchester

Murals on the Grove Hall post office

The murals along the facade of the Grove Hall post office are a part of a pilot program started by nonprofit arts organization Now + There and community development organization, Greater Grove Hall Main Streets. In 2022, eight artists came together to create the portraits of eight different influential Black leaders that greatly impacted movements for equality in Boston and the U.S. for Black History Month. The murals on the Grove Hall post office rotate.