The Offbeat Art of Berlin 35 Years After the Fall of the Wall

It’s been 35 years to the day since the Berlin Wall came down, ending nearly as many years of Cold War antagonism between the two halves of the fractured city and ushering the reunification of Germany at large, reuniting families and friends long separated by political forces beyond their control. Namely, the global conflict that pitted the USSR in the east against the U.S. and its allies in the west. Its shadow loomed over the art created on both sides, and its divisive presence is still felt to this day.

But relics of this era are falling into the past as history weary Berlin is contemporized. Construction projects are ubiquitous as old, weird, often gritty buildings are torn down and new, weird, often shiny buildings are erected in their place. To see what remains, you’ll have to act fast.

We’ll start with the Wall itself. Pieces of it are scattered about, preserved in both prominent plazas and hidden corners. Potsdamer Platz—a bustling, upscale commercial center once split by the barrier, the then-barren bleakness of the westside wasteland starkly different from the polished, touristy space it is today—bears a stretch of several panels that stand at the hub between Brandenburg Gate and the outstanding Neue Nationalgalerie. The collection at the latter spans the past century or so, and it is rife with aggressive works of wide-ranging political import, many of which provide an ominous glimpse into the culture produced under the oppressive atmosphere of the Wall. A few blocks east, tucked among the bushes on Wilhelmstraße, hides a Wall sliver decorated by Thierry Noir (adjacent to essential pizza at Caffe Bar Italia).

But the most impressive display—at least in the city center—is the East Side Gallery: a long stretch of segments that were muraled shortly after the reunification by over 100 artists from more than twenty countries. Today, it displays replicas that were applied in 2009, arguably the most famous of which is My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love by Dmitri Vrubel, which portrays Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and East German Chairman Erich Honecker locked in a fraternal Socialist kiss.

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The open-air gallery runs along a riverside park that terminates to the southeast at a wide thoroughfare, on the other side of which is a wild cultural center called RAW-Gelände. Established in an old industrial district, it is thick with murals, art galleries, nightclubs, restaurants and an outdoor/indoor climbing wall. The overall vibe is perhaps best described as refurbished grime, and it is one of the city’s most unique community art experiments and not to be missed. It is, however, in the sights of real estate developers, so check it out before it’s torn down and cleaned up.

This could easily take a full day, so I suggest starting the next day in the Turkish, bohemian district of Kreuzberg. The neighborhood is rich with street art, food and random reasons to stop and look. Aim for the statue of the Clessidra (hourglass), then just wander from there. Art opportunities abound, but perhaps the most exciting is KÖNIG GALERIE, a contemporary gallery housed in a brutalist church called St. Agnes that tends to offer reliably cutting-edge work.

Now head west to Schöneberg, a historically working-class district populated by immigrants, gay artists and—for a couple of years—David Bowie and Iggy Pop, who in the late 1970s fled the throes of addiction in Los Angeles to clean up and refocus in Berlin. This collaborative period proved to be among the most fruitful in their careers, as the duo finished producing Iggy’s The Idiot and composed his greatest solo album, Lust for Life, and Bowie, along with Brian Eno and Co., performed much of the work on the Berlin Trilogy, comprised of Low, Heroes and Lodger. “It’s a very good, therapeutic city for an artist,” Bowie later declared.

At Hauptstraße 155, you’ll find a bust of Ziggy Stardust above an impromptu shrine to Bowie, a plaque above it declaring We can be heroes, just for one day. He and Iggy lived here from late ’76 to early ’78, in a second-floor apartment where Bowie took up painting hallucinatory portraits of his Turkish and German neighbors—many of whom, he later explained, were living separated from loved ones on the other side of the Wall—which he refused to show for decades, rather skeptical of his skills as a painter. It is noteworthy that his stated and most obvious inspiration for these paintings was the German Die Brücke expressionist Erich Heckel, whose work you can visit at the nearby Brücke Museum, a favorite of Bowie’s.

To round everything out, head to the Stadtmuseum—City Museum—just north of Berlin’s Museum Island. Via a combination of photos, art and artifacts, this foundation provides an insightful, well-curated exploration of Berlin’s tumultuous history.

As for where to stay during your visit, the city has strict regulations that reduce the number of Airbnbs, so your best bet is a hotel. I have three widely varying suggestions. If you’re going upscale and looking for luxury hotels in Berlin, it’s hard to beat the Ritz Carlton, which stands alongside Potsdamer Platz and provides easy access to many key sites like the Brandenburg Gate, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Neue Nationalgalerie and the Topography of Terror. The hotel itself is exceedingly refined and offers an excellent breakfast buffet—comfort amidst the horrors of the city’s history.

For more affordable yet highly convenient accommodations, the Cosmo Hotel Berlin Mitte is just south of Museum Island. Its central location provides easy access to just about anywhere, and it is a comfortable, if no-frills, base.

And for art vibes above all else, the Circus Hotel is my top suggestion. Each room is decorated with a different theme, and the lobby, restaurant, library, and garden are all eclectically appointed and provide ample atmosphere whether you’re eating, meeting fellow travelers, or looking for a quiet place to put in some laptop time. The rooftop terrace provides a view of the city’s iconic TV Tower—designed to evoke the Sputnik satellite—and the neighborhood is flush with restaurants, bars and one of the few area laundromats.

As a final nonessential but completely unique tip, those seeking the strange may enjoy a visit to the Designpanoptikum Surreal Museum for Industrial Objects. Located just north of Museum Island, it provides a quirky break from some of the stuffier institutions. An eclectic experience, its curator jam-packed its interior with all manner of random, well, stuff arranged in a multi-room installation. Does it have a meaning? I don’t know, but it speaks to the spirit of the art and culture of Berlin: something old transformed into something new through no shortage of creativity and madness.