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In 1976 East German Border Troops begun to erect a new typ of Wall in Berlin, the
so-called 'Border Wall 75'. This concrete Wall was 3.60 meter (11.81 ft) high and white painted. Although painting was not allowed, the
complete Wall system was on the territory of East Berlin, many artists begun
to paint on the Western side of the Wall in the beginning of the 80s.
Artists
like Thierry Noir and
Keith Haring discovered the Berlin Wall as the world's
longest canvas which had to be painted.
Many known and unknown artists painted on the Wall in the following years and
the paintings were often painted over within hours or days. The Wall art was
not protected, everybody could paint on the Wall. On the Western side of the
Berlin Wall the Wall was colorful whereas the Eastern side was white or grey.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the Eastern side of the Wall was
also painted by artists.
Today only a few painted sections of the Eastern side of the former Berlin
Wall still exist at Potsdamer
Platz, East Side
Gallery at Mühlenstrasse and in the Wall Park
at Bernauer Strasse.
Painting on remaining sections of the Wall
has become very difficult. The Wall at East Side Gallery has been listing and
painting is prohibited. The existing paintings shall not painted over, however
sometimes artists try to paint on East Side Gallery without permisson.
At Bernauer Strasse the City of Berlin takes care that the former Wall remains
grey.
The only sections which are painted regularly are located on the Wall Park at
Bernauer Strasse.
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Unknown Artists:
Berlin Wall Graffiti Photographs
Known Artists:
East Side Gallery Photographs
External sites:
Art Crimes
Berlin Wall pictures, about 1985
Berlin Barriers
CNN site about East Side Gallery
East Side Gallery
Official site of Artists Initiative East Side Gallery e.V.
Thierry Noir
History of the Berlin Wall from a painters point of view
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