Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F088809-0038, Berlin, East Side Gallery

Dmitri Vladimirovich Vrubel (; 14 July 1960 – 14 August 2022) was a Russian painter. He was best known for his East Side Gallery-painting ''

My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love ''My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love'' (russian: «Го́споди! Помоги́ мне вы́жить среди́ э́той сме́ртной любви́», Góspodi! Pomogí mne výzhit' sredí étoy smértnoy lyubví; german: Me ...

'', depicting the kissing

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker. Vrubel was born in Moscow, Soviet Union. His surname is a

russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...

of the common Polish surname

Wróbel Wróbel ( ; meaning " sparrow") is a Polish surname. The same surname is sometimes spelled Wrubel or Vrubel, reflecting its pronunciation. Czech, Slovak, and Slovene cognates include Vrabel, Vrabec, and Brabec. People * Adolf Wróbel (1930� ...

Early life

He was the only child of two engineers. He started painting at 15 and studied at the graphic art department of the Moscow State V.I. Lenin Pedagogical Institute.

Work

Vrubel's most famous work is the graffiti piece, painted on the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

entitled ''

'' which depicts the kissing communist leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker. It was inspired by a

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

captured by photographer

Regis Bossu Regis or Régis may refer to: People * Regis (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Regis (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Regis (musician), full name Karl O'Connor, an English ...

depicting a

socialist fraternal kiss The socialist fraternal kiss was a special form of greeting between socialist leaders. The act demonstrated the special connection that exists between socialist countries, consisting of an embrace, along with a series of three kisses on alterna ...

between the leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker in 1979, during a celebration of the 30 years of the

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. In 2009, the painting was removed by the authorities as part of a cleaning effort in order to have it repainted by Vrubel.

Other works

In 2001, he and his wife, Viktoria Timofeyeva, created a large format calendar containing portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin called "The 12 moods of Putin". Each page of the calendar portrayed a different image of Putin and was an unexpected hit with the Moscow population.

Death

Vrubel died in Berlin from complications of COVID-19 on 14 August 2022, at the age of 62.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vrubel, Dmitri 1960 births 2022 deaths Artists from Moscow 20th-century Russian painters Russian male painters 21st-century Russian painters Kandinsky Prize Russian people of Polish descent 20th-century Russian male artists 21st-century Russian male artists Moscow State Pedagogical University alumni Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany