East Side Gallery - A Photowalk at the World's largest Open-Air Gallery
Dear Art-Fans,
about one year ago I visited the East Side Gallery in Berlin.
After the Berlin wall came down in November 1989, it was degraded very fast and only a few reminders were scattered across the city. The longest stretch of the original Wall was located at the Mühlenstraße in Berlin Friedrichshain.
In the period from February to September 1990 more than 118 artists from 21 countries painted 106 unique murals on this 1.3 km long part of the Berlin Wall. The artists wanted to express the joy of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War in Europe.
Since then the so called East Side Gallery became the world’s largest and longest-lasting open air gallery and an international memorial for freedom. Most of the paintings depict images of hope and redemption. Some have also gathered national fame, particularly the section of two men kissing.
After two-thirds of the paintings were badly damaged by erosion, graffiti, and vandalism, many of these were restored in 2009 and are now protected with wire fences.
Please enjoy my selection of works, that I photographed with an iPhone!
Dimitri Vrubel - Lord Help Me To Survive This Deadly Love
Sometimes referred to as the Fraternal Kiss (German: Bruderkuss), this graffiti painting is one of the best known of the Berlin wall graffiti paintings.
Created in 1990, the painting depicts Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker in a fraternal embrace, reproducing a photograph that captured the moment in 1979 during the 30th anniversary celebration of the foundation of the German Democratic Republic.
Birgit Kinder - Test The Rest
The Trabi, the symbol of the turn is made of cardboard and plastic and breaks through the wall of iron and concrete, a system separated 28 years old, without any scratches.
Willi Berger - Soli Deo Gloria
Tribute to the deceased artist and mentor of Berger, Hans Meisel. Banned in the Third Reich, concealed in the GDR now available with the copy of one of his works for the first time a public reputation.
"Soli Deo gloria" is a Latin term for "Glory to God alone". The painting is a tribute to the last composition by J.S. Bach and the art of fugue.
At the bottom of the mural you can read: "Never again censorship in art!"
Georg Lutz - Untitled
Mikhail Gorbachev holding a steering wheel made of hammer and sickle (☭), a Communist symbol that was conceived during the Russian Revolution.
Gorbachev's policies of glasnost ("openness") and perestroika ("restructuring") and his reorientation of Soviet strategic aims contributed to the end of the Cold War.
You can see a full size image without the graffiti here!
Jim Avignon - Doin It Cool For The East Side
I'm a huge fan of Jim Avignon, who is the founder of "Cheap Art" and also a musician. The former image from 1990 was replicated in 2000 and restored in 2009.
Avignon came in 2013 with friends and painted over the image remains in a public action and replaced it with a new version.
Jim Avignon -Detail
Jim Avignon -Detail
Jim Avignon -Detail
Schamil Gimajev - Worlds People
This Gigantic work (more than 37m length) has "a clear message of peace through the history". You should check the whole work here!
Here is another detail:
Schamil Gimajev - Detail
Theodor Cheslav Tezhik - The Big Kremlins Wind
The words on top of the painting "Tempus fugit" are a Latin phrase, that usually translates into English as "time flies".
All of the russian leaders are painted upside down, because the new wind from the west mixed everything up.
Rough Westwind mixed by the Kremlin in Moscow, the hardliners also fall out, including Gorbachev.
Below you can see an iron gate and a profile shot from the wall. As the actual border at this point was the river Spree, the wall was less heavy than I would have expected.
The former border river Spree. You can see the Eastside gallery to the left.
A long shot from the East Side Gallery. The painting to the far right: Lana Kim - Untitled
You can see all the images with some explanations at this Google Arts&Culture site.
Andrej Smolák - Untitled
Peter Russell - Heaven and Viewfinder
César Olhagaray - Watch-men of computers
See the whole painting here!
César Olhagaray - Detail
César Olhagaray - Detail
Margaret Hunter - Joint Venture
Thierry Noir - Hommage To The Young Generation
Cacciatore - Buerlinica
Gerald Kriedner - Twilight of the Gods
Henry Schmidt - Don´t Forget The Love
Andy Weiss - Spirit Travel
Lislot Blunier - Untitled
This looked totally different than the original piece. Check here!
Gerhard Lahr - Berlyn
Michail Serebrjakov - Diagonal Solution Of The Problem
Rosemarie Schinzler - Anything Open
Marc Engel - Puppets Of A Remote Piece
Alexej Taranin - Walls International
Kani Alavi, Muriel Raoux - Untitled
Oliver Meline - Welcome
To the left: Ulrike Zott - Untitled
Ana Leonor Madeira Rodrigues - Untitled
Gábor Simon - Space Magik
Jens-Helge Dahmen - Pneumohumanoides
I hope you enjoyed this overview of the East Side Gallery works.
If you are in Berlin, you should definitely stop by, 3 million visitors a year can't be wrong!
Address: Mühlenstr. in Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Free admission!
Google Art&Culture with all paintings and some explanations.
Thanks for your attention!
@shortcut - I post about art, photography and poetry.
That's an extraordinary collection of street art. If only the "taggers" would leave the walls for artists, then the world would literally be a more beautiful place.
Great post, thanks for letting us vicariously experience Berlin from the safety of our own homes ;-)
Thanks for your feedback, Alan :-)
I'm a bit undecided about the taggers: On one hand I agree, that the original artworks absolutely deserve to be conservated in their initial state. On the other hand, I pretty much like the idea of living art, that interacts with the viewers and still develops. I mean, it's a street art gallery, not a museum and this way the wall is pretty much used like it was in the days of the cold war (at least in West-Berlin).
I know what you mean, some taggers are artists in their own right, but the ones I'm thinking of are trolls with spray paint ;-)
Yay, I guess we're not so far away. The trolls are everywhere and we have to learn how to deal with them ;-)
These are awesome shots, thanks for sharing @shortcut!
Thanks a lot for your appreciation :-) I did my best to feature these great artworks. Glad you like the result.
Thank you for this post
Haven't been there for a while, nice reminder of my home town. Need to visit there again soon
You're welcome, I'm glad I reminded you! There are so many cool things to see in Berlin, that one can easily oversee the obvious ;-)
That is so right!
Wow - da hast du dir echt Mühe gegeben jeden Künstler zu dokumentieren. Find ich toll! Ich hab sogar ein Stück Berliner Mauer, weil wir damals dort auf Klassenfahrt waren. Sogar selbst rausgehauen. 😅Irgendwo müsste ich noch Bilder davon haben. 😁
Danke! Das waren noch nicht einmal alle Künstler, aber es ist schwer gewesen, eine Auswahl zu treffen. Ich habe leider kein Mauerstück, aber ich finde "selbst rausgehauen" schon ziemlich cool ;-) Wäre ja vielleicht mal einen Post wert.
Ja, das mit der Auswahl kann ich gut verstehen. 😅Hm...wie immer hab ich nur Fotos von den anderen Leuten gemacht - von mir hab ich glaub ich keins. Ich muss mal nachschauen in welcher Kiste die stecken. Dann poste ich eins von den Mitschülern mit schwarzem Balken drauf - wegen Persönlichkeitsrechten und so. 😄
Das mit den Persönlichkeitsrechten finde ich auch sehr wichtig. Ansonsten ist die Geschichte dahinter natürlich spannend. Wie du die Stimmung in der Stadt wahrgenommen hast usw.
Amazing post and wonderful photos thank you so much for sharing
You're welcome! Thanks for your feedback :-)
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damm what a cool feeling that must be to see that in real so awesome these are thanks for sharing this amazing post :)
Yes, it's living history ;-)
You really work hard. Thank you for sharing your posts 😊
You're welcome, it's my passion ;-)
"Birgit Kinder - Test The Rest" its amazing...
netter post @shortcut
Danke für dein Feedback!
Gern geschehen
I just love this wall...ooooo
Marc Engel - Puppets Of A Remote Piece I liked the most..
Thanks for your feedback!