His artwork has been seen on numerous forms of media beyond the wall, from art galleries around the world to the cover of the band U2’s 1991 album, “Achtung Baby.”Īrt On The West Side Wall Berlin Wall mural by Keith Haring, 1986, via Zach Neven with Ron English and his mural, 1988, via Ron English’s Popaganda

Many of his paintings are often considered today as the iconic style of Berlin Wall art. By 1990 Thierry had painted more than 5 kilometers of art on the Berlin Wall. His artwork was characterized by cartoon-like paintings made from a minimal pallet of colors, done in quick painting sessions in order to evade East German authorities.

Starting in 1984, Noir made painting the wall a nearly daily ritual. After dropping out of university and being fired from a string of jobs, he moved to Berlin in search of an artistic outlet. Thierry Noir is a French artist who is often credited as the leading pioneer of art on the Berlin Wall. Thierry Noir: The Pioneer Of Berlin Wall Art A 1984 homage to artist Marcel Duchamp, via The Guardian with Thierry Noir standing in front of a wall mural of his iconic cartoon heads, via Cultura Colectiva By 1989 the walls had become much more than just barriers, they became contrasting products of two opposing systems of governance, culture, and artistic expression. While the East Wall remained blank, gray, and empty throughout its entire duration, the West Wall slowly became a miles-long canvas, capturing the freedom of expression that West Berliners possessed in their daily lives. It gave the city’s artists the ability to have a semblance of control in a situation they seemingly had no control over.īy the late 1980s, the two walls represented the enormous contrast between life in West and East Germany. It was a way for artists to express their contempt for the wall and its meaning by transforming the drab stone wall into an artistic display of expression and rebellion. The art on the Berlin Wall was a form of rebellion against the repression and division the wall brought to the everyday lives of Berliners. The Symbolism Of Art On The Berlin Wall “ No Europe Without Berlin, ” 1988, via The LocalĪrtists often made their artwork symbolic of the wall they were painting on. There would also be an increase of large murals and other urban art projects that characterize the city today, continuing the legacy of the art on the Berlin Wall. This graffiti-craze would continue amongst Berlin artists following the collapse of the wall, as a massive street art scene enveloped Berlin throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. This method would prove as the primary means of painting the wall for many artists as it was a quicker, more discrete method of covering the wall without being caught. This new art form was largely brought over by American artists who were a part of the burgeoning street art scene in New York City during the 1960s and 70s.

The necessity to paint undetected would lead to graffiti being used extensively across the West Side Wall. Though West German police usually turned a blind eye to wall artists, the wall was considered a part of East German territory and was continuously patrolled by East German authorities looking for escapees and people vandalizing the wall. They usually brought only a few different colors to paint with and worked swiftly to avoid being caught by East German authorities. Please check your inbox to activate your subscription Thank you!Īrtists of the West Wall often had to be quick when painting upon the wall. The art on the Berlin Wall was often characterized by subversive symbolism that critiqued the wall and what it stood for. While the East Wall was heavily guarded and would remain untouched throughout the Cold War, by the mid-1980s West German artists began to decorate the West Wall. This barrier strip had guard towers, searchlights, and electric fences threatening anyone that attempted to cross the border. The Berlin Wall was essentially two walls with a “death strip” in-between. Realizing the potential of losing its human capital, Soviet and East German officials decided to build a barrier separating East and West Germany, as well as East and West Berlin. The fifteen years following the Allied Victory of World War II were marked by a massive movement of migrants from East to West Germany, as East Germans became increasingly dissatisfied with the lack of economic opportunity in the Soviet-controlled Eastern Bloc. The Berlin Wall art of the 1980s was an artistic representation of the events of the Cold War in Europe. World’s People by Shimal Gimayev, 1990 with The West Side Wall and Death Strip, via Thierry Noir

Graffiti wall art