Train Tracks: Bob Dylan

Released in 2008 to great critical acclaim, ‘Train Tracks’ has become synonymous with Dylan’s legendary 1975 album, ‘Blood on the Tracks’. His travels from gig to gig across America are symbolised in the expanse of railway line, surrounded by an anonymous landscape.

Taken from the The Drawn Blank Series – which comprises sketches created by Dylan between 1989 and 1992 – the piece boasts his signature loose lines and instinctive brushstrokes. For the 10-year anniversary release in 2018, he adopted a bolder, more stylistic approach – signifying another chapter in his visual autobiography.

The train is a symbol featured in several of Dylan’s song lyrics, including ‘Freight Train Blues’, where he writes: ‘Well, the only thing that makes me laugh again/ Is a southbound whistle on a southbound train’. Upon its release, the image was a sell-out success – in no little part due to its honest aesthetic, something he is universally lauded for.