Dmitri Vrubel
Dmitri Vladimirovich Vrubel (Russian: Дмитрий Владимирович Врубель; 14 July 1960 – 13 August 2022) was a Russian painter. He was best known for his satirical East Side Gallery-painting My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love, depicting the kissing communist leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker. Vrubel was born in Moscow, Soviet Union.
Also recorded as Dimitry Vrubel · Dmitri Vladimirovich Vrubel
Dmitri Vrubel
Don Ludwig · originally posted to Flickr as Painter Dmitri Vrubel in front of his Bruderkuss · CC BY 2.0
- Born
- 1960 · Moscow.
- Died
- 2022 · Berlin.
- Nationality
- Soviet Union · Russia · Germany
- Occupation
- graffiti artist · painter
- Education
- Moscow Pedagogical State University
- Known for
- My God and Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love
- Languages
- Russian · German
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Dmitri Vladimirovich Vrubel (Russian: Дмитрий Владимирович Врубель; 14 July 1960 – 13 August 2022) was a Russian painter. He was best known for his satirical East Side Gallery-painting My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love, depicting the kissing communist leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker. Vrubel was born in Moscow, Soviet Union.
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Note VALÉORINE
Dmitri Vrubel (1960–2022) was a German and Russian graffiti artist and painter. Born in Moscow, the graffiti artist died in Berlin. Dmitri Vrubel studied at Moscow Pedagogical State University.
Languages used include German and Russian. Works by the graffiti artist are held at Berlinische Galerie and East Side Gallery.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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wikidata · Q1232803 · wikipedia · Dmitri Vrubel
In this article
Early life
Early life
His surname is a russification of the common Polish surname Wróbel.
Dmitri Vrubel studied at Moscow Pedagogical State University. The recorded working language is Russian and German. Works named in the authority record are My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love. Work by Dmitri Vrubel is recorded in the collections of East Side Gallery and Berlinische Galerie.
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
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. 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. 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
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
Death
Vrubel died in Berlin from complications of COVID-19 on 14 August 2022, at the age of 62.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1960
Dmitri Vrubel born at Moscow.
2022
Dmitri Vrubel died at Berlin.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Moscow.
Birth place
Berlin.
Death place
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Schuetze, Christopher F. Dmitri Vrubel, Who Planted a Kiss on the Berlin Wall, Dies at 62. The New York Times. 19 August 2022.
- 2.Keep a Shadow of the Wall. The New York Times. Section 4 page 18 of the New York edition. 2 December 1990.
- 3.A photo here: Kisses which made history, repubblica.it.
- 4.Göbel, Malte. Kiss of Death: Officials Erase Historic Berlin Wall Mural. Der Spiegel. 27 March 2009.
- 5.Paterson, Tony. The stolen kiss: The Berlin Wall mural is erased. The Independent. 28 March 2009.
- 6.'Twelve moods of Putin' hits Russia. BBC News. 6 December 2001.
- 7.Next, they ought to do a t-shirt. United Press International. February 2019.
- 8.Умер художник Дмитрий Врубель. The Insider. 14 August 2022.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1232803: Dmitri VrubelWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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