The East Side Gallery is not a traditional indoor gallery. It is the world’s longest open-air art gallery. This artistic landmark was created in 1990, one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The concrete that now serves as the “canvass” for this 0.8-mile-long gallery was once part of the hated 12-feet tall wall that divided East and West Berlin. Today, it is a monument to the former east-west division and the longest continuous section of the Berlin Wall still in existence. During its almost 28-year existence, the Berlin Wall went through four major redesigns. The part of the wall that is now known as the East Side Gallery was built in 1975.
Section of the East Side Gallery in Berlin, Germany. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015. www.walled-in-berlin.com
Where is the East Side Gallery?
The East Side Gallery is located in the Muehlenstrasse close to the historical Oberbaumbruecke, which spans the River Spree. At one time, the wall formed the border between the Soviet and the American sectors here. After the wall came down, most of it was quickly dismantled. But 118 artists from 21 countries came together and painted 101 murals on the east side of the wall. They chose the east side for their art because during the years of the Berlin Wall only the west side of the wall was covered with graffiti. The East side remained unadorned because it was inaccessible to the East German population during the division. After the fall of the wall, painting on the east side became possible, and with their creations, the artists expressed their euphoria over the peaceful dismantling of the Iron Curtain and their optimism for the new era of freedom.
One of the famous murals in the East Side Gallery is the “Bruderkuss” (brotherly kiss) by Dmitri Vrubel. It depicts Leonid Brezhnev, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, kissing Erich Honecker, former General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party.
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Tags: Berlin Wall, Bruderkuss, Dmitri Vrubel, East Side Gallery, Erich Honecker, Iron Curtain, Leonid Brezhnev, Oberbaumbruecke
