Prince Mural Transformed Two Years After His Death

Though the mural attracted some attention in 2016, it found new online
fame after Stein shared this photo of the surrounding bush in bloom
on her Twitter feed
Credit: Christine Stein

Artist Christine Stein was listening to Prince’s song “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” when she first heard of the singer’s death in 2016. Her sadness over his loss inspired her to paint a commemorative Prince mural, displaying it on a small, dead-end street in Citrus Heights, California.

Her husband placed the Prince mural under a round tree shortly after the musician’s death. At the time, leaves sprouting on branches above the portrait appeared to form a dark head of hair reminiscent of the large afro Prince wore onstage at the American Music Awards five months before his sudden death. This spring, two years after the mural was put on display, the bush behind it burst into a full, flowery bloom — for the first time since Stein created the tribute in 2016, adding a sense of wonder to the street art.

Although none of the blossoms were purple, large red, pink, and beige flowers framed Prince’s portrait, giving extra vibrancy to the painted visage of the artist who the New York Times has called “a master architect of funk, rock, R&B and pop” who defied labels.

A self-taught creator of “public art”, Stein says she didn’t even realize the bush could flower. She believes that when a load of mulch was delivered to her home, extra mulch was inadvertently dropped in front of the mural. This likely gave the tree the extra nutrients it needed to flower for the first time this year.

Stein’s April first Twitter post of the photo stated : “Our #Prince bush started flowering all of a sudden! Now there are hundreds bees buzzing and a few birds living in the bush! Happy #Easter Everyone!” The tweet received over 41,000 views.

View more about this West Coast surprise tribute, including an interview with the artist, in the video below.