Pioneer, 2026

Dmitry Vrubel  

Dmitry Vrubel (1960-2022) is a Russian-German artist, a representative of the Soviet Pop Art movement.

He became famous all over the world thanks to the iconic graffiti "Lord! Help me survive among this mortal love" on the Berlin Wall (1990) - the image of the kiss of Brezhnev and Honecker, which became a symbol of reunited Germany and one of the most recognizable visual images of the 20th century.

Born in Moscow, he studied at the art and graphic faculty of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. In the 1980s, he was part of the Moscow underground and the Union of Artists of the USSR.

Since the early 1990s, he lived and worked in Berlin, where he became one of the key representatives of the post-Soviet wave of contemporary art.

Vrubel explored such subjects as power, faith, and human feelings.

His works intertwine politics and history - in the images of leaders and symbols of the era; social and spiritual reflection - the search for meaning in an era of change; as well as irony and grotesque which are characteristic features of Sots Art that turn politics into a myth.

During his career, Dmitry Vrubel held more than 60 personal and collective exhibitions in Russia, Germany, France, the USA and other countries.

Among the largest are the Gospel Project (CHA, Moscow, 2008; PERMM, Perm, 2009), Haus am Lützowplatz (Berlin, 2010), MMOMA (Moscow), and others.

The artist's works are in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Center for Contemporary Art (NCCA), Nationalgalerie Berlin and in private collections around the world.

In 2025, Dmitry Vrubel's prints again aroused the interest of collectors: at Russian auctions they are sold at prices ranging from €2,000 to €15,000, confirming the growing interest in the artist's legacy.

In international trading, including Sotheby's, his work also showed a multiple increase in value.