Berlin's East Side Gallery - A Guide To 15 Of The Murals

The Berlin Wall East Side Gallery is one of the must-see parts of Berlin when you visit...

After the wall fell in November 1989, this 1.3 km stretch of the Berlin Wall was kept in place as a permanent reminder of how the city was once divided.

A few months after the wall came down, 118 artists from 21 countries around the world were invited to paint murals on the east side of this long stretch of wall.

Painting the east side was symbolic as this was the side of the city in which expression and freedom were so prohibited during the Cold War.

The result is the world's longest open air art gallery.

Bright artwork was created that symbolised the human response to the fall of the Berlin Wall - the mixture of emotions: positivity for the future and anger or grief about the past.

Unfortunately, over the years weather and graffiti damaged the wall and its paintings and it seemed that the gallery would not survive.

However, in 2009, a 2.5 million Euro restoration project was undertaken and each of the original artists was invited to return to re-paint their work.

Today, more than 3 million visitors visit the East Side Gallery every year and the images remain powerful and symbolic messages of what this city endured during the time of communism.

There are a few iconic images that many recognise from the East Side Gallery but there are also many other important murals.

Here are 15 of the murals you will find at the East Side Gallery in Berlin...

A Guide To 15 Of Berlin's East Side Gallery Murals

1. Test the Rest by Birgit Kinder

One of the more iconic paintings of the East Side Gallery, depicted on many postcards in Berlin is, 'Test the Rest' by Birgit Kinder. The mural displays a Trabant car breaking through the wall.

The Trabant car is a symbol of East Germany and this painting was to represent and remember the many courageous people from East Germany who tried to escape over the wall....

2. - Detour to the Japanese Sector by Thomas Klingenstein

The artist of, 'Detour to the Japanese Sector', Thomas Kingenstein, grew up in East Germany and as a young boy had a dream to live in Japan, and learn more about the Asian culture - a dream in East Germany that felt impossible at the time.

Detour to the Japanese Sector is a representation of his dream to pass through the wall and fulfil his vision of life in Japan.

3. Mauern International by Alexey Taranin

Alexey Taranin, the creator of 'Mauern International', is a Moscow artist.

When Taranin first painted the wall in Berlin, the borders were still very real to him. At the time of painting, despite the wall having fallen, he still could not cross to West Berlin on his Soviet passport.

Taranin is reported as saying that at the time of painting the wall, it was a powerful statement of destroying it - transforming the concrete wall that separated two worlds into a canvas...

4. Sonic Malade by Greta Ida Csatlòs

Sonic Malade was painted by a young woman, Greta Ida Csatlòs and is one of the more vibrant and lively murals at the East Side Gallery. Depicting a clown, batman and a man running, there are also very symbolic representations in the shape of the Soviet Union flag and Brandenburg Gate.

5. It Happened In November by Kani Alavi

When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, the artist, Kani Alavi was a young man living in the city, in an apartment overlooking the wall at Checkpoint Charlie.

As the wall came down, Alavi watched the hundreds of people from East Berlin come flooding through to the west side with a huge range of very real human emotions on their faces.

The painting he created is a depiction of the faces and raw emotions he witnessed as the two sides of the city became one.

6. Berlyn by Gerhard Lahr

Gerhard Lahr, the artist who painted, 'Berlyn' is a children's book illustrator, originally from East Berlin. Lahr has been quoted to recall the thrill of being permitted to paint on the wall in 1990, when just months earlier border guards had patrolled to stop anyone getting close.

The powerful painting Lahr created is another iconic piece from the gallery, often found around Berlin today on postcards and souvenirs.

7. My God, Help Me To Survive This Deadly Love by Dmitri Vrubel

Perhaps the best known and most iconic painting on the East Side Gallery is the painting, often referred to as 'The Fraternal Kiss', but actually entitled, 'My God, Help Me To Survive This Deadly Love'.

The mural was painted by Moscow born artist, Dmitri Vrubel.

This mural is the one that many travel to the East Side Gallery in Berlin to see (you will find it from the crowds!).

The painting depicts a kiss between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German President Erich Honecker - a ‘fraternal’ kiss that took place in 1979 between the two leaders (and was caught on camera).

The slogan beneath the image reads, ‘my God, help me to survive this deadly love’…

As well as the picture’s historically political message, it is also seen as a symbol today of Berlin’s wide inclusivity and openness to LGBT+.

8. Birth of Kachinas by Indiano (Jürgen Grosse)

The artist, Indiana (Jürgen Grosse) was from East Berlin and responsible for painting this long section of the East Side Gallery, entitled, 'Birth of Kachinas'. The mural depicts the words, 'Save our Earth' on one side and 'Get Human' on the other.

Indiana has also painted several other pieces of the Berlin Wall that are displayed around other parts of the city and in other destinations of the world.

9. Les Yeux Ouverts - by Muriel Raoux

The title, 'Les Yeux Ouverts' translates as 'the open eyes'.

This mural painted by Muriel Raoux depicts a wall tumbling down with a young girl on the far side looking straight forward and into the eyes of the viewer- seemingly only looking towards a future.

Conversely, an older woman is also depicted, looking back and this is said to represent the awareness of the adult woman that her past experiences are part of who she has become and will remain part of her future.

10. Tolerance by Mary Mackey

Mary Mackey is an American born artist who began her career as a photographer, before taking up print-making and painting. During the 1980s Mackey had moved to Europe, spending time living and teaching in London, before moving to Berlin.

Invited to paint a section of the wall at this time, Mackey's work entitled, 'Tolerance' speaks for itself.

Due to the artist's background in photography she was also heavily involved in marketing the East Side Gallery as it opened, taking many of the promotional photographs.

11. Untitled by Peter Lorenz

Peter Lorenz, the German artist of the following mural, left the painting untitled as he felt it was up to the individual audience member to decide for themselves.

On one side, the image depicts the unification of the states of Germany, the USA and the Soviet Union (through the use of their flags and the Brandenburg Gate). The other side of the painting is more abstract and used to demonstrate the chaotic process of collapse and reorganisation.

12. Alles Offen (everything open) by Rosemarie Schinzler

The artist, Rosemarie Schinzler, is originally from the city of Freiburg in Germany. She travelled to Berlin after the wall came down.

Schinzler was given permission to paint a section of the wall by entering and winning a competition. Through her painting, entitled, 'Alles Offen' which translates as, 'everything open', Schinzler hoped to help people understand what it was like to live in a divided city and country.

13. Curriculum Vitae by Susanne Kunnjappu-Jellinek

An intriguing mural on the East Side Gallery is the piece, 'Curriculum Vitae' by Susanne Kunnjappu-Jellinek.

The mural lists every year that the Berlin Wall stood, with pink roses painted around the year that represent each life that was lost that year in attempting to escape over the wall to the west.

14. Cartoon Head by Thierry Noir

The French born artist, Thierry Noir, is the creator of the now iconic, colourful signature cartoon heads found on a large portion of the East Side Gallery, as well as other segments of wall left around Berlin (and in other parts of the world).

Noir moved to Berlin from France in 1982 and is said to be the first artist to paint the Berlin Wall. He began to paint a long section of the wall in 1984 with another artist - an act that had a mixed response from Berliners at the time but was the inspiration for many other artists to then follow suit.

Noir has said since that the act of illegally painting parts of the Berlin Wall when it stood made him feel stronger than it and the division it stood for.

When the wall came down, Noir was invited to legally paint a section of the wall, as we see it today.

15. Worlds People, Wir Sind Ein Volk by Shamil Gimajev

The final piece in this collection is a longer stretch of artwork on the East Side Gallery, entitled, 'Worlds People, Wir Sind Ein Volk'... The slogan, 'Wir Sind Ein Volk', translates to 'we are one people' and was used at the time of unification during protests by the ordinary citizens...

The colourful mural here holds many symbols, but perhaps one of the most pronounced is the locked metal gate still in place in the wall, to which people have added their own padlocks over the years.

So, there you have a brief guide to 15 of the murals that can be found at East Side Gallery in Berlin today.

I loved the East Side Gallery and returned more than once during my time in Berlin. Each time I visited I noticed something new in the artwork and the messages the artists were intending.

Finally, in case you want a bit more art...

East Side Gallery runs along the River Spree on Mühlenstraße between Ostbahnhof (train station) and the bridge, Oberbaumbrücke. It can be visited 24 hours a day!

**To make my travels possible and affordable I do so through international house-sitting, using both Trusted Housesitters and Kiwi Housesitters**