Thirty-five years ago, on September 28, 1990, a gray stretch of the Berlin Wall was transformed into the world's longest open-air gallery. Today, the East Side Gallery stands as one of the German capital's most recognizable landmarks, featuring artwork from 118 artists representing 21 countries who unleashed their creativity on this historic structure.
Anna von Arnim, director of the East Side Gallery from the Berlin Wall Foundation, recently shared insights about the gallery's remarkable origins and evolution. The initiative emerged relatively quickly after the wall's opening on November 9, 1989, when the idea arose to paint the wall from the East Berlin side for the first time. While West Berlin, particularly in Kreuzberg, already had wall art created by artists like Thierry Noir and Kiddy Citny, this opportunity suddenly became available to East Berlin artists after the wall fell.
"Just days after the wall opened, they began painting," von Arnim explained. "They went to Potsdamer Platz, received sponsored paints from a French paint manufacturer, and started creating." However, the first attempt faced immediate obstacles. While the artists worked under the watchful eyes of East German border guards who had no orders to intervene and didn't know how to respond, international press documented both the artists and confused soldiers. Despite initial success, the soldiers painted over the artworks with white paint during the night.
This setback prompted two key figures to take decisive action. Heike Stephan, an East Berlin artist, and David Monty, a West Berlin art manager, collaborated to create what they envisioned as "the world's largest outdoor gallery on the Berlin Wall." Learning from the first attempt, they decided to seek official permission. Monty approached the Ministry of National Defense, and after several meetings, they received official approval from the East German Council of Ministers in February 1990 to create art on the Berlin Wall with "humanistic spirit."
Among the most famous works created during this period was Dmitri Wrubel's iconic "brotherly kiss" between Honecker and Brezhnev, painted from an actual photograph. However, von Arnim revealed an interesting detail about this piece: "Wrubel didn't really want to create such a political image. The title of this picture isn't 'brotherly kiss,' but 'My God, help me survive this deadly love.' He wasn't referring to the two leaders, but rather to his personal situation – he was married but in love with another woman."
Another beloved artwork is Birgit Kinder's Trabant car breaking through the wall. "She had her Trabant parked on the street and painted it from life," von Arnim noted. "The car was built so lightly that people always thought it would fall apart, but it breaks through the wall without a single scratch while the wall shatters. For her, this symbolized how the wall was peacefully overcome and expressed her joy that the SED dictatorship had ended."
By 2009, the gallery faced serious deterioration challenges. The original artworks, painted spontaneously on poor surfaces with inadequate materials and no primer, were barely recognizable due to weathering, vandalism, and graffiti. The state of Berlin decided to invite all original 1990 artists to repaint their works. The restoration process involved sandblasting existing paint layers, repairing the wall structure with corrosion protection, priming, and providing white backgrounds for the artists.
Most artists faithfully reproduced their 1990 originals, though some made modifications. "Birgit Kinder changed details in her Trabant, and others updated their messages to reflect contemporary concerns," von Arnim explained. For example, Jolly Kunjappu, who originally painted two figures dancing around the globe in 1990, added text in 2009 stating: "We need peace, we need freedom, we need the protection of human rights and no war, no violence."
Five artists refused to participate in the restoration, arguing they wouldn't copy themselves. They believed their 1990 works were specific commentaries on that moment of upheaval and shouldn't be reproduced without change. "These five images are no longer visible today," von Arnim noted, adding that "there is one image at the East Side Gallery that actually still looks like it did in 1990," with the original wall's porous surface and poor-quality paints still intact.
Today, vandalism through graffiti on the artworks has become rare, though the gallery's back side remains heavily tagged. The foundation faces ongoing challenges in balancing preservation with the gallery's dynamic nature as a "processual monument" and public art installation. Von Arnim emphasized the importance of educating visitors about the site's historical significance, as many don't immediately understand the memorial's context or realize they're viewing original wall segments.
Since January 2025, the East Side Gallery features a visitor center housed in a former gatehouse, helping explain the complex history to the thousands of tourists who visit this unique intersection of art, history, and political transformation. The site continues to serve as both an artistic achievement and a powerful reminder of Berlin's divided past and peaceful reunification.
