7 Berlin Wall murals — and how to actually look at them

In 2026, the world marked the 37th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – it was torn down on 9 November 1989. The East Side Gallery – a 1,316-metre-long section of the surviving Berlin Wall – has become the world’s largest open-air gallery. From time to time, reports appear in the media that the city authorities are discussing the demolition of the remaining sections.

Moreover, despite mass protests, a small section of the Wall was already demolished in 2013 to make way for the construction of luxury apartments. In 2017, the East Side Gallery was once again under threat: plans were drawn up to build a luxury hotel on the site. Civil society activists launched a new wave of protests and a petition drive.

Today, the Berlin Wall is not just a historical landmark attracting millions of tourists every year. It is both a symbol of freedom and a reminder to humanity that such events must never be repeated. Let’s go through some of the most famous and significant murals at the East Side Gallery.

My God, help me survive this deadly love
(Mein Gott, hilf mir, diese tödliche Liebe zu überleben)

This is perhaps the most famous piece of graffiti on the Wall. It is also better known worldwide as the ‘Brotherly Kiss’. In 1990, Dmitry Vrubel painted this graffiti based on a photograph taken in 1971 by Barbara Klemm during a meeting between the leader of the GDR, Erich Honecker, and the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, at Sheremetyevo Airport.

In 2009, this graffiti, like others, was painted over as part of the restoration of the Wall, after which Dmitry Vrubel restored his legendary mural in just three weeks.

*Dmitry Vrubel, My God, help me survive this deadly love*

2. Cartoon heads

These bright, cartoon-like heads adorn the wall thanks to the world-renowned artist Thierry Noir. Noir was the first person to start painting on the Wall, back in 1984. At the time, he was putting his freedom and even his life at serious risk by painting on it, as the border area belonged to the GDR, and any image on the wall was considered illegal. He had to paint quickly, before the border patrol spotted him.

Over the course of five years, he managed to cover 5 km of the Wall with his drawings, marking the beginning of a creative process that continues to this day. Noir’s work is characterised by his signature style – bright, ‘cartoonish’ colours and characters. Thierry draws inspiration for his pop art-style works from the art of Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.

3. Trabant breaking through the Wall

This graffiti by Birgit Kinder depicts the iconic Trabant car literally breaking through the Berlin Wall. The Trabant is a well-known symbol of communist East Germany, as it was the most affordable and popular car among its citizens.

This work is a striking reference to the past: hundreds of Germans attempted to climb over the barbed wire or break a hole through the wall to get from East Germany to West Berlin – to their family members, their loved ones and their relatives. Most of the defectors were killed by police bullets.

*Birgit Kinder, Trabant breaking through the Wall*

4. It happened in November

The Berlin-based artist Kani Alavi painted this graffiti in 1990. The abstract painting, rendered in cool tones, depicts Checkpoint Charlie on the day the Wall fell – 9 November 1989.

In this work, Kani Alavi depicts the people of East Germany ‘floating’ across the checkpoint into the West. On their faces, we see a range of emotions that, taken together, capture the mixture of confusion, excitement, joy, trepidation and the sense of long-awaited freedom that people felt on that day.

5. A diagonal solution to the problem (Diagonale Lösung des Problems)

In his work entitled ‘A Diagonal Solution to the Problem’, Mikhail Serebryakov depicts a thumb held in place by a chain to keep it in an upright position. This forcibly raised ‘thumb up’ is a metaphor for a society living under the pressure of the East German government, which tried by any means to preserve communist views and ideals in the country.

*Mikhail Serebryakov, A diagonal solution to the problem*

6. The Wall Jumper (Der Mauerspringer)

People who attempted to climb over the Wall from West Berlin to East Berlin were known as ‘wall jumpers’. GDR citizens who decided to cross the Berlin Wall without authorisation were usually referred to as fugitives. Gabriel Heimler depicted precisely a ‘wall jumper’, rather than a fugitive from the GDR to the FRG.

In this context, this ‘West German’ leap to the East is interpreted not merely as a symbol of the quest for freedom, but also, more broadly, as a symbol of protest by an individual —a victim of political actions — against the division of the country and its people into two parts.

7. Thank you, Andrei Sakharov (Danke, Andrej Sacharow)

This simple yet beautiful portrait on the Berlin Wall was painted by Dmitry Vrubel and Victoria Timofeeva in honour of Andrei Sakharov, the Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. Sakharov, an outstanding scientist and champion of freedom and human rights, died in 1989, a few weeks after the Wall fell.