My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love

Photograph

The photograph capturing the embrace was taken by Régis Bossu in East Berlin on 7 October 1979. It was widely republished. Brezhnev was visiting East Germany at the time to celebrate the anniversary of its founding as a Communist nation. On 5 October, East Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a ten-year agreement of mutual support under which East Germany would provide ships, machinery and chemical equipment to the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union would provide fuel and nuclear equipment to East Germany.

Painting

Vrubel created the painting in 1990 on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall. Until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Berlin Wall graffiti art existed only on the western side. Vrubel attempted to obtain permission to paint on the eastern side, but the East German Ministry of National Defence disclaimed responsibility for the Wall. Instead, he found a "Scottish girl" selling "permits" to paint on the Wall, and he signed a contract that gave up all of his rights to the painting.

Along with other murals in the section, the painting continued in display after the wall was taken down, but vandalism and atmospheric conditions gradually led to its deterioration. In March 2009, the painting, along with others, was erased from the wall to allow the original artists to repaint them with more durable paints. Vrubel was commissioned to repaint the piece, donating the €3000 fee he was paid to a social art project in Marzahn.

In terms of style, there are slight differences between the 1990 and remade 2009 murals, and Vrubel has said that he made technical mistakes on the original piece due to inexperience with the method. The main message did not change.

Photographer Bossu and Vrubel met in 2009 and were photographed together on 16 June with reproductions of their works.

Critical reception

My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love has become one of the best known works of graffiti art on the Berlin Wall. According to Anthony Read and David Fisher, the painting is "particularly striking, with a sharp, satirical edge." It was also widely criticized on creation as a straightforward reproduction of the photograph that inspired it.

In a 2014 interview, the artist explained how the location and characters give meaning to the painting: "In this painting, there's one German and one Russian, and the Berlin Wall is about the same thing but in reverse: here [in the painting], there's total love, while the Berlin Wall separates two worldsit was a perfect fit." He wanted to create a "wow" factor but did not expect the success it had.

Prominent derivative works include Make Everything Great Again, a 2016 Lithuanian mural of Russian president Vladimir Putin and United States president Donald Trump in a similar pose, and a 2016 mural in Bristol featuring Donald Trump and pro-Brexit campaigner and British Member of Parliament Boris Johnson in the run-up to the 2016 referendum.

Notes

References

References

1. "Kiss of Soviet Leader Brezhnev and East German President Honecker". [[Branded Entertainment Network.
2. Clemens, Jochen. (November 22, 2009). "Die längste Open-Air-Galerie der Welt. Die Geschichte eines Gemäldes: Der Bruderkuss". [[Die Welt.
3. Vinocur, John. (October 5, 1979). "Brezhnev Arrives in East Germany For 30th Anniversary Celebration; Ceausescu Is Not Expected". [[The New York Times]].
4. Vinocur, John. (October 6, 1979). "Soviet and East Germans Sign an Economic Pact". [[The New York Times]].
5. (13 November 2019). "A Concrete, Communist Kiss That Was 'All About Love'". Current Time.
6. Göbel, Malte. (March 27, 2009). "Kiss of Death. Officials Erase Historic Berlin Wall Mural". [[Der Spiegel.
7. "Brotherly love: 25 years on, the artist behind the iconic Berlin Wall mural tells his story".
8. Schwarz, Tobias. (Jun 16, 2009). "Russian artist Dmitry Vrubel and photographer Regis Bossu pose before restoration work on a segment of the East Side Gallery". 2space.
9. Major, Patrick. (2009). "Behind the Berlin Wall: East Germany and the frontiers of power". [[Oxford University Press]].
10. Tagliabue, John. (April 7, 1991). "What divides Berlin now?". [[The New York Times Company]].
11. Read, Anthony. (1994). "Berlin: the biography of a city". [[Hutchinson (publisher).
12. Minaev. Boris. (October 27, 2003). [[Ogonyok]]. [[Pravda]]. link
13. "Brotherly love: 25 years on, the artist behind the iconic Berlin Wall mural tells his story".
14. "Putin kissing Trump mural goes viral". USA TODAY.
15. "Street Mural of Donald Trump Kissing Vladimir Putin Goes Viral".
16. Taylor, Adam. (May 13, 2016). "The Putin-Trump kiss being shared around the world". The Wall Street Journal.
17. Said-Moorhouse, Lauren. "Donald Trump and Boris Johnson pucker up in street art". CNN.