FIFA World Cup murals have sprung up in the city as the tournament prepares to hold nine matches in North Texas, and there’s been shared frustration over the placement of one piece in the heart of downtown Dallas. Pictured from right to left is ‘One field, infinte smiles’ on Commerce Street and a new unnamed mural being painted over ‘Wyland’s Whaling Wall 82’ on Akard Street.
FIFA World Cup murals have sprung up in the city as the tournament prepares to hold nine matches in North Texas in June, and there’s shared frustration over the placement of one piece in the heart of downtown Dallas.
In Facebook comments under The Dallas Morning News’ story about a World Cup mural being painted on the old Dawson State Jail building, a user confused it with the now-covered whale mural on Akard Street and lamented, “The whales were better.”
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Another user mistaking the two murals scoffed, saying, “It’s a DISGRACE that they covered an amazing whale mural by a famous artist. Almost as bad as if one was to whitewash the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.”
To clear the air, here’s what to know about the two different murals.
Whaling Wall 82: N. Akard Street
The World Cup mural at 505 N. Akard Street has yet to be finished or named, but its appearance has caused controversy after painters covered Robert Wyland’s Whaling Wall 82 mural in blue paint last Monday in preparation for a FIFA-themed mural. The mural’s title originates from its part in a series of 103 whale-centric murals painted by Wyland across the U.S., though it was officially titled Ocean Life.
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The cover-up has sparked conversation all over the country, garnering mentions in the The New York Times and USA Today and comments from celebrities such as Kacey Musgraves.
The 164-foot-wide mural of six life-sized humpback whales first appeared in 1999 and resurfaced in 2020 after being covered by billboards for eight years. Though organizers said Wyland was notified of the change, he told The News there was no communication.
Wyland’s Whaling Wall 82 — or what was left of it as of Monday, May 18, 2026.
Robert Wilonsky/Staff writer
The project is being completed in partnership with the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee, Downtown Dallas, Inc., or DDI, and Slate Asset Management, which owns the building, The News’ Robert Wilonsky wrote in a column Monday.
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A spokesperson with the organizing committee said the mural currently being installed is meant to “celebrate and build excitement for the upcoming World Cup 2026.”
The committee also said it plans to preserve the northwest corner of Wyland’s piece.
One field, infinite smiles: W. Commerce Street
Netherlands-based muralist Rosalie de Graaf, along with artists Daniel Yanez of Dallas and Bimbo Adenugba and Ade Odunfa of Houston, are working on a separate World Cup mural on the side of the old Dawson State Jail building that faces the Trinity River.
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The mural was designed in a hyper-realistic style, meant to highlight people and their communities with the utmost detail. It will feature four children performing soccer tricks from famous players while surrounded by bluebonnets and other native plants and animals.
Progress on One field, infinite smiles as of Friday, May 15, 2026.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
Standing 150 feet tall and 250 feet wide, the completed mural will be the largest in Dallas history, according to a news release from Trinity Park Conservancy, which is helping fund the mural to merge the community with the upcoming Harold Simmons Park next to the building.
Trinity Park Conservancy is a nonprofit organization chosen in 2018 to design, build and maintain Harold Simmons Park. The park is expected to have a large portion completed in late 2028.
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The Dawson State Jail building piece is part of a World Cup mural series, organized by nonprofit Street Art for Mankind, or SAM, and will also include art in Houston, Miami and Seattle.
The piece is expected to be finished on May 24.
What the organizers have to say
Rounds of miscommunication permeated the way information was spread between organizers, artists and the community about the whales’ cover-up.
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A spokesperson for Slate said DDI and the organizing committee asked them to donate the wall for a public art piece, which Slate agreed to.
“There were gaps in the process, gaps in communication,” Monica Paul, the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee president, said. “Maybe assumptions that it had been vetted by all partners and all the parties involved.”
Wyland and Steve Creech, the Wyland Foundation’s CEO and president, said they were never contacted by anyone in Dallas. At least not until the cover-up was already in progress.
Wyland contacted Wilonsky on Monday to say a local law firm was in the process of distributing a cease-and-desist to all parties involved.
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“If they can get away with it, then every piece of art a community loves across the country is exposed,” Wyland said. “I am going to do my best to send a very strong message.”
The organizers were going to announce the new mural this week, along with the local artist and the sponsor, though that has been sidelined due to the uproar.
Audrey Decker, co-founder of SAM, said her and the organization are not associated with the heart-breaking cover-up of Wyland’s mural and don’t support the erasure of public art.
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Brian Lapidus, a spokesperson for the Trinity Park Conservancy, reaffirmed that their organization and the upcoming mural aren’t related to the one going up on Akard.
A petition to bring a new whale mural to Dallas and protect existing art was started Sunday by a group of local high school students and has received over 800 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.