Dmitri Vrubel

Dmitri Vladimirovich Vrubel (Russian: Дмитрий Владимирович Врубель; born 14 July 1960) is a Russian painter. He is best known for his East Side Gallery-painting My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love, depicting the kissing communist leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker.

Mein Gott, hilf mir diese tödliche Liebe zu überleben
Vrubel during the restoration

Vrubel was born in Moscow. His surname is a Russification of the common Polish surname Wróbel.

Work

Vrubel's most famous work is the graffiti piece, painted on the Berlin Wall entitled My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love which depicts the kissing communist leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker.[1]

It was inspired by a photograph captured by photographer Regis Bossu depicting a socialist fraternal kiss between the leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker in 1979, during a celebration of the 30 years of the GDR. [2]

In 2009, the painting was removed by the authorities as part of a cleaning effort in order to have it repainted by Vrubel.[3][4]

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".[5] Each page of the calendar portrayed a different image of Putin and was an unexpected hit with the Moscow population.[5][6]

References
  1. "Keep a Shadow of the Wall". The New York Times. December 2, 1990. pp. Section 4 page 18 of the New York edition. Retrieved 2009-06-18. In a lampoon of Socialist Realism, a Soviet artist, Dmitri Vrubel, depicts the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev kissing East Germany's former party boss, Erich Honecker. A caption says "God help me to survive this deadly love affair."
  2. A photo here: Kisses which made history, repubblica.it.
  3. Göbel, Malte (27 March 2009). "Kiss of Death: Officials Erase Historic Berlin Wall Mural". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  4. Paterson, Tony (28 March 2009). "The stolen kiss: The Berlin Wall mural is erased". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  5. "'Twelve moods of Putin' hits Russia". BBC News. 6 December 2001. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  6. "Next, they ought to do a t-shirt". United Press International. 7 December 2001. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
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